51
They held the east. It had taken everything they had, but the line had held. Loggers and housing contractors had refused to leave, not even when the exhausted fire crews came to take over. They had ridden their dozers right against the foot of the flames. Two machines had been lost when the crews abandoned the bulldozers before the fire overran them. Over a hundred thousand gallons of retardant and water had been dumped all along the line, beating the fire out of the crown and forcing it to the ground where the engine crews could hit it and hit it hard.
The upcoming night was going to be brutal, but they had the New Tillamook Burn contained on three sides.
Steve had the added satisfaction of knowing he’d saved a whole section. He’d spotted a freak gap in the wind with the drone. Carl
