1
“Rise and shine,” Patsy Jurgen swept down the hall of the Cascade Hotshots barracks. This was their first wildland firefighting season, the newest hotshot team in the country. And the worn-out, board-and-batten building was their new home. She thumped the side of her fist once on each wooden door, making them rattled loudly on old hinges.
She smiled to herself. It had taken her six years to make foreman of an Interagency Hotshot Crew and this was about the nicest place she’d ever lived. She’d heard some of the new recruits griping good-naturedly about a “hardship post.” Once the fire season hit, they wouldn’t be in residence here in Leavenworth, Washington all that often. And after their first month or so walking to the wildfires, they’d bless having running water, a cot, and a roof th
