19
The flight back to Hood River left Carly feeling disjointed. Uncertain.
The Hoodies had beaten this one and, other than minor cuts and burns, come out clean. Exhausted but clean.
It had taken most of the third day, but they’d finally been able to turn the fire over to a Type III Incident Management Team. There would still be flare-ups and spot fires, but the winds had held steady. The heart of the fire, cornered by retardant drops, had died for sheer lack of fuel against the triple fire breaks cut by the smokies and hotshots.
Carly and Steve had found a few moments during the day when it was the two of them—while flying the drone over the scene before it was time to retrieve the smokies, after retrieving the drone and collapsing the trailer in preparation for the flight back to Hood
