The next morning, the Tornadoes met at the Donovans' tree house.
"We can find the oldest gravestone in the cemetery," said Laura.
"But where will we find the oldest person?"
"Maybe at the Willow Creek Senior Home," said Joy.
"Lots of old people live there."
"We can get a calendar of community events at the library," said Carlos.
"But how will we find a town law?" asked Joy.
She looked down at the list and frowned.
"We have less than two weeks to find all this stuff."
"I can help!" said Manny.
"No. You can't," said Carlos. "You're a baby."
"He can count, right?" said Joy.
"We have to count stop signs, mailboxes, and streetlamps on Main Street."
"I can count to a hundred!" said Manny.
"Good enough," said Joy.
Just then a gray cloud drifted through the tree house. Laura coughed.
Carlos sniffed the air.
"I smell smoke," he said.
The Tornadoes looked out of the tree house window.
"Hey, Grandpa!" Joy yelled. "What are you doing?"
Grandpa looked up.
"Oh, hey, kids," he said.
"I'm just burning a few weeds."
He poked at his fire with a stick.
A glowing leaf floated up and landed in dry grass.
A flame shot up.
"Oops," said Grandpa and smashed the flame with his boot.
"There goes another one," said Carlos.
Grandpa smashed another little flame.
"And there's one," said Joy. Grandpa stamped again.
Suddenly there were little flames everywhere.
Grandpa was running in a panic, stamping his feet.
"Uh-oh," said Manny.
The kids hurried down the tree house steps.
"Get a bucket from the back porch!" Grandpa yelled.
The Tornadoes took off.
But by the time they ran back up the hill, the fire was blazing.
Smoke sailed into the sky.
Grandpa grabbed the bucket and dipped it in the pond.
He threw water on the fire, but the fire kept growing.
Then they heard sirens.
"Fire trucks!" shouted Carlos.
The fire chief's truck was in front and the fire engine followed.
They roared up the driveway and across the field.
Three firefighters jumped out and unrolled the fire hose.
"Get back!" the fire chief called to Grandpa and the kids.
Water whooshed out of the hose and onto the fire.
Soon there was just a circle of wet, black grass where the fire had been.
"What happened here?" asked the fire chief.
Her name was Rita Carlson.
She had been a Willow Creek firefighter for 15 years.
"Well," said Grandpa, "I was just burning a few weeds.
Then the fire went everywhere.
When the kids got here with the bucket—"
Chief Carlson interrupted Grandpa.
"So you didn't have anything ready to control your fire?" she asked.
"I guess not," said Grandpa.
The fire chief frowned.
"May I see your burning permit, Mr. Donovan?"
"Burning permit?" said Grandpa.
Chief Carlson sighed.
"Mr. Donovan, Willow Creek's burning law requires you to get a burning permit before starting a fire.
You have broken that law."
"Hooray!" cried Joy.
Everyone stared at Joy.
"That's just what we're looking for!" she explained.
"A law for our scavenger hunt!
Do you have a copy of the burning law, Chief Carlson?"
"Oh! We need a list of fire-safety tips too," said Laura.
"No problem," said Chief Carlson.
"I have both of those things in my truck.
And for you, Mr. Donovan, I have a fine."
Grandpa frowned. But the Tornadoes cheered.
The fire trucks were just leaving when Katie came racing down Blackberry Road on her bike.
"Here comes an Earthworm!" said Carlos.
"Don't tell her what we found!"
The Tornadoes laughed and put two check marks on their list.