1. Nick, a 16-year-old boy who loves working on his family's croft, helps his father and uncle conduct the annual controlled burning of heather on the hills to clear land for grazing. 2. On one occasion, the fire spreads rapidly due to dry conditions and wind. Nick had hurried to extinguish the fire on his patch without ensuring it was fully out. 3. That night, Nick is awakened to discover that half the village is now ablaze, with flames stretching miles into the sky. He realizes with horror that the fire must have restarted from the patch he was responsible for extinguishing earlier that day.

1. Fire
All over the Highlands, every year,
farmers and crofters burn heather on
the hills so their animals can graze in
the fresh green grass that grows back.
But on occasion, the fire can become
uncontrollable and spread rapidly.
This is what happened on the 18th of
April, fifteen years ago.
On a little croft on the west coast of
Scotland there lived a boy by the name
of Nick. He was big built, just like his
father, and he had bright ginger hair,
also just like his father. He was 16
years of age at the time and already
had a lot of knowledge concerning
crofting and farming. He had been
working on the croft with his father
since he was 4. Nick loved animals:
his idea of a fun day was out on the
croft feeding the animals and tending
to other things that needed done. This
was why he adored the summer
holidays, a whole six weeks without
school to spend helping his father on
the croft. Nick also enjoyed when the
time of year came when they had to
burn the heather on the hill. He loved
the thrill of starting the fire, the little bit
of fear at the back of his mind that
made him doubt for a second what he
was doing.
There was one thing always got in the
way of his ambition. School. He hated
it. He was rubbish at Maths, he was
rubbish at English and he was rubbish
at Music. The only subject that he
enjoyed, and the only reason he came
to school, was Craft and Design. The
teacher, Mr MacSuain, was a tall,
lanky bloke with huge feet. Nick really
liked him, mainly because he also had
a croft and they would talk all the time
about various things. Mr MacSuain
was also a really good teacher so at
least some of his school time was
bearable.
It was near the end of Nick’s S4 in
school and time for the heather
burning. Every year, Nick’s father and
his Uncle Jonnie would go out on the
hill on two quads and light a fairly large
patch of ground for the animals to
graze on. They usually spread the
burning over two days, because if
anything bad happened and they’d
tried to do it in one day, then they
would not have the energy to control
the situation.
So that year it started the same as
every other year: they got up at 5 in
the morning, Nick as usual at half 5,
and had a hearty breakfast. Nick’s
father always said to him that if he
didn’t have a good breakfast then he
would never be a good crofter. After
breakfast they went to the shed and
collected the beaters to control the fire,
and got on the quads, Nick on the
back of one with his father.
They followed a track which led out on
to the hill, and the further they followed
the track, the worse it got. They went
through a patch of old trees, then
came to a clearing where they parked
the quads and walked to where his
father had planned to burn on the hill.
Nick really enjoyed to walk on the hills
and just go roaming and sometimes he
would go and fish in some of the lochs.
When they reached the chosen spot,
they started right away. Uncle Jonnie
took a match to the heather and that
was it. The good weather in the past
week had made the heather bone dry
and there was a little wind so the fire
spread ferociously. This meant that

2. Nick, his father and his uncle had to
work very hard to control it, but they
managed and their first day had come
to an end.
But Nick was hungry and wanted to
get back, so when he was told to put
the fire on his patch out, he quickly
beat it out then sprinted back to the
quad. His father had noticed this but
thought he could trust his son that it
was out.
When they got home they were
stinking of smoke and absolutely
starving, so they all filled themselves
with food, had a shower then went to
bed.
Nick suddenly awoke, and looking at
the clock, he saw that it was 2.30am.
His throat was dry so he got up and
went for a drink of water. As he
entered the kitchen he was stunned:
outside the window he could see that
half of the village was on fire, flames
stretching miles up into the sky. His
father burst into the kitchen.
“NICK!”
Hector, S3