What happens
Antony Ellis's story follows Pendell, a man who finds himself in the Clearwater country of Idaho after years of searching. Driving back through the forest at night, he picks up a hitchhiker named Jan, who is headed for Missoula. A forest fire has broken out, and a forest ranger commandeers them both for the firefighting effort. Pendell is sent into the burning woods with a group of men, including Ro, Wally, Hanson, and the fat man, to set a backfire near the river. The fire closes in, and the men are forced to abandon one another as they struggle to escape. Escape is the Ben Wright episode, first broadcast on August 11, 1950.
The forests of the Clearwater country in Idaho, near a lumber town and a road, during a raging forest fire
Characters: Pendell, Jan, Ro, Wally, Hanson, Crowbar, Fat
Listen for: The growing fear of the men as the fire closes in, and the strained, sometimes guarded conversations among the group as they try to find a way out
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.