“This is nothing. We had a fire last year, week-long operation plus cleanup time, with a remote fire camp and the jumpers were battling wind and elevation the whole time. Finding landing zones was a challenge and a half.”
Something about the way Tucker spoke about the smoke jumpers, a certain reverence maybe, gave him away, and Luis had to chuckle. “You still play the what-if game, don’t you? Part of you really wanted to be out there with them.”
“Maybe.” Tucker shrugged as they continued walking, but a little smile played with his lips. “Okay, yeah, just between us, giving up that dream...wasn’t easy. The adrenaline. The planes. The camaraderie. The variety.”
“I remember. Heck, you even had the action figures.”
“Yeah, I had it all planned out. And I did start on summer ground fire crews because I could be the primary caregiver over the winter while Heidi was in school. But then the boys got bigger and things like health insurance and tuition assistance for me to go to school myself mattered more than being on the front lines. Anyway, I’ve built a good life for myself in this job. Too old to see myself switching, that’s for sure.”
“You’re not that old,” Luis protested both because if Tucker was old then so was he, and because part of him resisted the reminder that Tucker was one hundred percent married to this area and this job, no matter how his family had treated him. Not that Luis got an opinion there and not that it made a lick of difference to how bad of an idea it would be to get involved with him. “And with your experience in both supervision and fire management, you could probably either be the most qualified rookie they’ve ever had or get some sort of support role.”
“Rookie.” Tucker snorted. “Think I’ll leave that to the young guns.”
“I’m just saying, all routine makes you old before your time.” Said the guy who had spent more weekends than was healthy with his cat that year, but maybe Luis was better at giving advice on how to avoid ruts than getting out of them himself.
“Yeah? What’s your endgame then? Aiming for your boss’s job?” Eyebrows raised, Tucker seemed to sense that Luis was more talk than action.
“I’m happy in my role right now. Getting all the required certifications wasn’t easy. Maybe less travel would be good.” He gave Tucker a pointed look. Travel might have brought him here, and he might not regret the chance to smooth things over between them, but he also couldn’t deny that the emotional upheaval of getting to that place took a toll. “Long-term, I’ll simply have to see. A position with an interagency crew isn’t outside the realm of possibility. Likewise, moving into a role where I could do even more investigation would be good. I’m open to whatever comes my way. Complacency isn’t good.”
“Yeah.” Tucker’s tone was thoughtful as they approached the site, and then it was back to business, Luis combing the area for an up-close examination of the burn pattern. The initial smoke-jumping crew had done a fabulous job of containing the blaze, keeping it from spreading, but the scorched trees and downed limbs spoke to how close of a call it had been from spreading into something more unmanageable.
The first thing he did, as with any fire site, was to walk the perimeter as much as possible, getting a feel for where the fire likely originated, moving from the general area of the fire to a more specific origin area, looking for possible ignition spots. He was looking for possible modifications to the fuel bed—places where branches or other fuel had been deliberately arranged to aid in the ignition and spread of the fire. And sure enough, he found subtle but still telltale signs that certain charred branches and other debris had been specifically placed.
“Again, this looks intentional, not lightning or other natural ignition, but I doubt it’s kids—whoever is responsible is clean, not leaving behind much if any evidence and is trying to cover their tracks, make it look like a spontaneous fire.”
“Yeah, I had a feeling we might be dealing with a pro. Damn it.” Tucker’s frown stayed in place as Luis finished up his inspection.
He didn’t find any obvious ignition sources—no mechanical devices or burnt remains of matches—but he collected a number of other clues to compare with the other fires.
“You’re good at this,” Tucker observed as Luis came back to stand next to him and take a drink of his water.
“What part? Telling you what you don’t want to hear?” Luis laughed, the praise feeling damn good. “Or you mean the data collection? That’s the fun part. Like you said, it’s a gorgeous late summer day. Who wouldn’t want to be outdoors? I always get way more insight hands-on like this.”