This fire was the worst one yet. The elementary school wasn't a huge building, six classrooms and an assembly space that doubled as a gymnasium, but it was built of local timber, and it had been well soaked in gasoline. Thank heavens it was nighttime and none of the students were here.

Eli and the other men - along with the crews from two neighboring towns, worked for two hours and had it mostly out, when the explosion in the nearby storage shed caught them by ...