Page 6 of Fireline
Booth stopped and turned to face her. “Boy, you sure don’t open up easily.”
Nova took a long pull on her water and recapped the canteen. “Neither do you.”
Their eyes locked. It seemed they both held unspoken truths they dared not utter.
Stalemate.
She marched past Booth. “We’re almost there. Let’s keep moving.”
Ten minutes later they broke through the forest to the homestead, both now breathing hard.
“Oh no.” Nova pushed to a run. God, don’t let there be anyone inside.
The fire had beaten them here.
Twenty yards ahead, the flames roared through the underbrush, sizzling, cracking, and popping. Orange flames shot up forty to fifty feet on either side of a quaint structure and whipped through the treetops over the metal roof.
Showers of embers rained down. Sparks blew upward and lodged in the branches of a thick black spruce beside the cabin.
She grabbed her radio and called the command desk as she ran up the porch steps. “The head is fanning out at the second homestead. We need a tanker.”
“Copy that. Anybody home up there?”
“Checking. We’ll save any civilians. Just get that mud up here so we can slow this fire down.” She banged on the door. “Hey! Anyone in there? Jude County Smokejumpers! Open up!”
Voices. Footsteps pounded the floor. The doorknob rattled. A bearded man opened the door. He had a muscled arm wrapped around a woman. Probably his wife.
For a second, Nova stared at the couple, so similar to her own parents fifteen years ago. Parents who’d lived in a remote cabin in the mountains. Who’d poured their blood, sweat, and tears into a self-sustaining homestead.
The dirt and ash turned to mud in her mouth, and she swallowed it down. “Get out of the house.”
“It’s not a house. It’s our home.” The man lifted his chin. “Tell us what to do so we can save it.”
Nova pushed away images from the past. “The fire is moving through here faster than we can keep up. We’re doing what we can to contain it, but it’s not safe for you to stay. You have to leave. That tree—didn’t you get the evacuation notice?”
Stubborn people put their lives at risk thinking they could withstand a fire. And now their obstinacy might get her and Booth killed right along with them. This was her past repeating itself all over the place.
“We were out riding ATVs all morning. Smelled the smoke and headed back.”
“If you had an escape, you should’ve taken it.” Nova’s words sounded cold. She shifted her weight and tried again. “Look, we need you to evac while you still can. It’s worse than you realize.”
The man opened the door wider and gaped at the flames consuming the forest less than fifty yards away. “It’s…everywhere.”
His wife squeezed his arm. “What’re we gonna do?”
“I’m Daniel, and this is my wife, Teresa. We don’t want to lose our home.” He wrung his dry, calloused hands together. “Please tell us what to do.”
Daniel’s eyes held the same look her father’s had when they’d faced the fire. This man might not be a fireman, but he was a hard worker. Like her father had been.
She hadn’t been able to save them, but she could help save these people. “You got a chainsaw?”
A few minutes later, Teresa had a hose connected to the well water spigot and was drenching the ground in a line around the home. Daniel used his chainsaw to clear the brush while Booth worked to fell the thick spruce trees threatening to fall on the house.
Nova shoveled mounds of fresh dirt over the spot fires popping up. They were making progress digging a protective line around the property. If things went sideways, they’d run for the small pond on the back side of Daniel’s property.
Booth cut the engine on the saw and wiped his brow. His face was black with sweat and grime. “This little chain saw can’t cut this thick one fast enough. I shoulda been through it by now.”
Nova’s radio crackled. “Nova, we’re five minutes to drop. We’ve got retardant. Clear the area.”