Burn Season novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Good Call

I swung the firefinder over to the south drainage and sighted down it.

Verna's old brass instrument had a map under glass and a pointer ring.

I had it lined up on the smoke in under a minute.

The thread was thickening.

I read the bearing off the ring, checked the map, and keyed the radio.

"Dispatch, Cinder Peak. Smoke report. Bearing one-seven-four, about six miles, in the south drainage below Rattler Ridge."

"Copy, Cinder Peak. Describe it."

"White smoke, one acre, climbing slow. Light fuel, grass and timber. Wind west at ten, gusting to twenty."

"Copy. Hold for a duty officer."

Static, then a different voice, a bright and friendly one that I had heard laugh at my jokes for two seasons.

"Cinder Peak, this is Kasey. You're on my desk tonight."

I hadn't expected to hear her, and I didn't know what my voice would do.

"Hi, Kasey," I said.

"I just wanted to say this is a really good catch. You called it fast."

She waited a beat.

"I'm glad you're okay up there."

"I'm working."

"Of course. I'll get the squad on the list. Tell me if the wind changes."

"I will."

She signed off.

I stood in the glass room with the radio still in my hand, and Verna's voice came up the stairs.

"That the girl?"

"That's her."

"She sounds helpful."

"She is," I said. "That's the problem."

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