Chapter 3
The next time Evan was conscious of anything other than the fire, the sun was setting—for the second time.
The first afternoon’s wind had brought flare-ups. Pitched battle had been engaged to keep the line. They were in country too steep for dozers and all the arrival of the Hotshot team had done was take over the flanks to free up MHA for the battle of the ridge.
One moment he’d be digging line, the next across the ridge and down in the unburned valley to the north with Ox killing off a spot fire. As the wind kicked harder, they’d spent more and more of their time scrambling up and down the treacherous terrain killing nascent fires that embers were trying to spark on the next slope.
In the quiet of the night they’d desperately cut more line trying to save the next valley ove
