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During his next contact with Sean, Ben got a few more details about how they’d gotten trapped. Before the hotshots had even reached the command post, they’d spotted a new burn, a finger of the forest fire closing in on the highway, near a small settlement.
They called it in, then set about going door to door, letting people know a wildfire had them in its sights. When everyone had been warned, they got back into their crew buggy and hit the road. Except the road hit back. A deer, panicked by the oncoming wildfire, charged onto the highway. Sean swerved to avoid it and the vehicle hit a patch of melted snow and fishtailed into a tree.
No injuries, just a fast-moving fire and a broken-down truck. They didn’t want to divert resources from the big wildfire, so Sean had called on Ben.
Th
