And that was when Bonnie heard the sirens of the Apple Pie Creek Fire Department.Praise the Lord.
But even with the help of a dozen firefighters and two hose trucks from Apple Pie Creek, the fire burned for another two hours.
The fire break held.The fire spent itself against the bare earth and the water and the hundred-odd people who stood in its path and refused to give ground.Spot fires flared and were beaten down.Flanking attempts to the north and south were stopped by the grader’s widened swath and Harlan’s water tank and Cooper’s bucket brigade.Fire fighters from Apple Pie Creek jumped aboard the Cobbler Cove engine and ran the hose while Gray drove it up and down the line.He took the south end, and the two Apple Pie Creek hose engines took the middle and north end of the fire line.
There was still mop-up work to do.Smoldering patches and hot spots to wet down, finding embers lodged against rocks and stuck in fence posts to extinguish.But eventually, Gray and the Apple Pie Creek fire captain walked the entire length of the fire break to inspect what a hundred civilians with shovels and a borrowed road grader had accomplished and declare the fire out.
The fire captain said to Gray, “This is a professional-grade fire break.Who organized this?”
“It was a team effort,” Gray replied.He stood beside his engine, covered in soot, his face black, his voice hoarse from smoke and shouting.His eyes were red-rimmed.His hands shook, although Bonnie suspected that was adrenaline and not fatigue or fear.
She piped up.“Gray directed the whole operation.”
“You’ve got training,” the captain said to him.It wasn’t a question.
“I’m working on a fire science degree.”
“Finish it.Then come talk to me.”
The captain clasped his shoulder briefly in a gesture of brotherhood among fire fighters and then walked away.Gray stared after him for a moment, then leaned back against the engine and closed his eyes.
Bonnie moved over beside him.The wind felt like it was starting to die down a little.The smoke had shifted from black to gray to white, and the smell of it had changed from burning to burnt.The aftermath smell was reminiscent of ash and char and wet earth where the hoses had done their work.
He opened his eyes.They were bloodshot and exhausted and the most beautiful shade of silver she’d ever seen.
“You called a road grader,” he said tiredly.
“You coordinated a firefight.”
“We stopped it,” he sighed.
“We stopped it.”
They looked at each other.Around them, people were milling, chatting, leaning on shovels.Someone broke out another round of sandwiches Rose had just brought.Walter was holding court from the tailgate of his truck, coughing intermittently, describing the fire to anyone who would listen as if they hadn’t all just lived through it.
Tucker was checking on the last of his patients.Jenna was leading a group of people back along the fire break, assessing the damage.One rancher had lost a half-mile long stretch of fencing.Bonnie heard the ranchers walking with Jenna already coordinating getting together next week to help rebuild it.
The long, shallow slope leading to Country Road 10 was black and smoking, a dark scar on the brown landscape.But the fire had stopped at the break.East of the road, the grass was unburnt.And beyond that, Cobbler Cove was unscathed.
“Bonnie?”
“Hmm?”
“I realized something today.”
“What’s that?”She turned her head to study Gray.
“I’m not just studying fire science because it’s interesting.And I’m not just restoring the station because the town needs one.”He pushed away from the truck and faced her, standing straight and tall.
“A while back, I told you I wouldn’t know if I wanted to be a firefighter until I fought one.Well, now I have, and now I know.”
“And?”she asked, even though she already knew the answer.
“This is what I’m supposed to do.This is ...”He looked at the engine, the hoses, the fire break, the people.“This is what I want.To build a real fire department.With trained volunteers to augment the full-time force.Equipment enough to handle the next grass fire.The next time this, or something worse, happens, this town won’t need help from across the lake.”
She took his soot-blackened hand.“Then build it.”
“It’ll take years.”
