Shadowed Gold by Alice Fox Parry

For a moment Valerie did not realise her danger, and then with realisation came panic and terror. She screamed loudly once and stopped, appalled by its futility. She clung to the open window, and looked out, a new fear driving out the old.

Great trees were outline in flame against the starlight sky; an awful radiance glowed through the clearing; and tiny rivers of fire crept into the undergrowth, ever coming nearer. The dull roar of the flames sounded in her ears, mingled with the crackling of the burning bushes and the crash of a falling tree as one forest giant after another succumbed to the flames. What wind there was wafted the smoke, with the acrid scent of burning gumleaves right into her face, and she turned away, hope stilled.