Release date is 2025-10-26

Roger Frank

Dot ... dot ... dash ... dot—"Fire!" by Clarice Detzer is a short adventure story written in the early 20th century. It follows a Girl Scout at a lakeside camp who proves her worth when a storm sparks a hotel fire and she uses wigwag signaling to summon help.

The story centers on Edna James, a sixteen-year-old raised at a coast guard station by her uncle, Captain Eli James. Feeling out of place among city girls at camp, Edna quietly excels at practical skills. After a gruff hotel owner, Vanbalken, complains about the scouts, a sudden squall rolls in; lightning strikes near his Ridge View Hotel and smoke rises. During signal practice, Edna stays steady under pressure, flashes the urgent message “Fire at Ridge View” along the line of girls, and help arrives quickly. She then assists with first aid for a shocked telephone operator. With the blaze contained and the scouts’ own camp blown down by the wind, Vanbalken apologizes and hosts the troop, while Miss Mills publicly affirms Edna’s courage and calm. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Originally published: New York: The American Girl, 1929