55
For the first time in this whole ordeal, the wind and fire cooperated. Once again the sun was setting, the sky turning blood red with smoke and ash.
The fire wouldn’t live to see the sunrise. They’d have it fully contained by then. Mop-up could take weeks, but they’d have it trapped but good. There’d be plenty of dousing, monitoring, and cleanup, but once it hit the massive bulwark of their northern barrier, it should be stopped on all sides.
Carly checked the full view one last time before the final attack. The locals and Steve had held the west and south clean at yesterday’s limits. The east had one bad spot-fire burn, but it only ate twenty acres before they’d killed it. The whole rest of her connected line of clear-cuts had held.
The black was a long way from being fully black,
