“Yeah.” Chase sighed. She hadn’t had a shower in thirty-six hours, and not much more to eat than a few rushed cups of coffee, a couple of prepackaged peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, countless bags of Cheetos, some kind of meat on a bagel, and a power drink. She had charge of one of the twenty-man hand crews cutting timber, clearing underbrush, and digging the fire lines behind the hotshots working up close who constructed firebreaks, doused hot spots, and directed the flyover retardant drops to help suffocate the fire. The front was less than a mile away from the incident command post, on the other side of an unpopulated valley with a narrow stream running through it. They were clearing both sides of the stream and deploying as much of the water as they could pump to stop the advance of the fire. Chase’s crew, being closest to the hotshots, also had to maintain the evac routes in case the wind picked up and the front moved faster. A really hot wildland fire could move ten miles an hour or more, and they’d all need to get out in a hurry. Her hunger vanished as she considered what might happen if the teams could not reach secure trails and strategically located vehicles.

“Thanks,” she said when she jumped out of the truck. She needed to be back on the line in an hour. She stopped at the mess tent and grabbed a plate of fried potatoes and something with gravy on it from one of the assistant rangers maintaining the supply lines. Carrying the food, she located Nat in the command center.

“I was just about to radio you,” Nat said.

“Something happened?” Chase said, pausing with a forkful of food on the way to her mouth.

“Jumped the line at Eagle Peak,” Nat said.

Chase’s stomach clenched. “Anybody hurt?”

“No, they saw it coming and evacuated, but the front has moved upslope, and we need to get around it.”

Chase glanced at the geographic images up on the wall, but she didn’t need to. She knew Eagle Peak. She’d climbed all over there as a kid. That’s where she’d taken her last fall. “I wouldn’t have thought it could get past that rock face.”

“The wind kicked up enough to send a few fireballs upslope.”

“If it keeps moving in that direction, it could crest Thunder Ridge.” Chase’s stomach churned.

“It’s a good fifty miles from the lodge, but I’ll let Sarah know to be on notice.” Nat pursed her lips and pointed to a new red line just below the crest of Eagle Peak. “We’ll need your crew and Charlie and Delta to reform up here.”

“Tell Sarah to evacuate,” Chase said.

Nat’s brows rose. “That’s pretty premature.”

“The kids will all be going home at the end of the week. Why risk it?”