‘Wildfire 7’ burns through its action-packed plot too quickly

At the opposite end of the spectrum from the real-time suspense of Fox’s high-concept thriller “24” is tonight’s TV movie “Wildfire 7: The Inferno” (8 p.m, Pax). It plays out in cinematic shorthand, jumping from scene to scene with such haste that the viewer is left like its firefighting heroine -- in a smoky haze.

Tracey Gold (“Growing Pains”) plays Nell Swanson, a convicted murderer who trains in prison as a California Department of Corrections firefighter and is paroled into a forestry firefighting unit.

Then, in the blink of an eye and 100 or so off-camera fires later, she’s tapped to head a team of veteran smoke jumpers.

The team includes a resentful ex-New York City firefighter, an experienced Native American firefighter and none other than the same abusive officer (Alexander Walters) who trained Swanson when she was initially furloughed to the prison unit.

A battle of egos between the pair ensues; meantime, the rest of the crew isn’t too thrilled with Swanson either.

In an effort to assert control over the group, the rookie commander harangues her employees, shouts orders and yanks the group back to square one: boot camp training, including everything from calisthenics to a 20-mile double-time march in full gear.

When the team is called on to fight its first big forest fire, there is dissension and confusion. But Swanson marshals on, arguing and spouting rules, regulations and the “ways of the forest” along the way.

If “Wildfire” has a redeeming quality, it is its not-so-subtle promise of a happy ending. But even that loses its edge when the conclusion is telegraphed in the rush through plot points and underscored in every one of Swanson’s dour speeches.