Firebreak: A Mystery (3 page)

A new EMS driver that Josie had never met spoke up. “What’s the difference between a voluntary and a mandatory evacuation?”

Doug smiled. “In reality, nothing. We had reached the point where people weren’t taking the calls for evacuation seriously, so we added the mandatory evacuation level to let folks know the danger is imminent and immediate. We can’t actually force someone off their property.” He paused, as if deciding if he should say more, and then turned to face the whiteboard behind him.

Someone had already drawn a crude map of Arroyo County, shaped like a piece of pie with the tip pointing north. A square represented Artemis on the south end of the county, taking up about half the crust. Six miles separated downtown Artemis from the river and the border with Mexico. The other two towns shown on the map were smaller circles up north, and they represented the towns of Hepburn and Riseman. A wide strip of red was shaded over the central part of Arroyo County, and it covered both Hepburn and Riseman. The amount of red provided a disturbing visual.

Doug ran his hand down the middle part of the county, from the tip of the pie, directly toward Artemis. The red stopped just above the town.

“Over the past two days the fire has destroyed both towns, burning homes and property. At this point we still don’t know exact numbers, but the devastation is immense for them.” Doug tapped his finger on the clear area between the red band and Artemis below it. “I’d say we have about fifty miles between the mudflats at the north end of Artemis and the fire’s path.” He paused and turned to the group of officers and firefighters, all grim-faced and obviously distraught over the news. They were concerned about the limited resources available to fight a fire of this magnitude.

Gabriel Vasquez, who Josie knew was one of Doug’s best volunteers, asked, “Can you estimate how long before it gets here?”

“The high temperatures and the storm clouds are giving us really unpredictable conditions. I’m not ready to put an ETA on it. As evening approaches, I would predict the wind will die down, but we have to prepare for the worst.”

“Which is?” Vasquez said.

Doug turned back to the whiteboard and drew arrows on either side of the red vertical strip representing the Harrison Ridge fire. The arrows angled in toward the red area. “We have to assume this fire will follow the same trajectory, which is a straight path south toward the mudflats north of town.” He pointed to the outskirts of town, on the northern edge. “We’ll flank the fire on either side of it and try to squeeze it out before it gets here.”

One of the younger sheriff’s deputies, Dave Phillips, called out, “Why not get in front of it? We draw a line in the sand and put a line of fire trucks across it. We put everything we got out there, slurry drops, water trucks, water packs. We just hit it head-on.”

Doug again wiped his forehead with the bandanna and put a hand up. “You have to realize, we’re not talking about a forest fire that burns sections for hours at a time. We’re talking about grass fires that can spread at lightning speed. The fire comes at you so fast you don’t have time to get out of its way. And, don’t think a grass fire can’t kill you. They burn hot and fast, and with the wind gusts we’ve seen? You don’t want to put yourself out in front of it.”

The room was silent. Josie thought about Doug’s description and wondered how a team of firefighters could discern the front end of a fire at night and with no aerial view, just the knowledge passed along by the firefighters themselves and the spotters throughout the county. It was a frightening thought.

“We’ve got a positive going for us tonight. A hotshot crew out of Montana is here in Artemis. They’re smoke jumpers who were flying in to train at Big Bend National Park this weekend. They’ve agreed to help us until we get this under control. It’ll put more feet on the ground.” Doug motioned his head toward the back of the room and Josie noticed that Pete and several other men in khaki jumpsuits had entered the room. Several people began clapping and then the room filled with applause. The men standing in the doorway grinned at the reception and waved it off.

Doug spent the next ten minutes discussing the plan of action and making it clear that he didn’t want the law enforcement officers fighting the fire; he wanted them supporting the firefighters with evacuation efforts.

“If I can use one of you on the line I’ll ask you personally.” He pointed toward the men and women sitting at the desks in front of him. “Most of these volunteers have been with me for several years now. It takes two years to really begin understanding fire suppression. The variables are endless, from the fuel on the ground to wind speed and direction, humidity, firebreaks, number of men and the tools being used. Homes and ranches and barns all burn different. All these things affect how we approach a fire. It’s not just a matter of pointing a fire hose at it. Without proper training you could put yourself and everyone else in grave danger.”

Doug pointed at Josie. “Chief Gray and her department are in charge of evacuations in and around Artemis.” Josie nodded once, acknowledging what she already knew. Doug gestured across the room at Roy Mart
í
nez, a burly, retired marine. “Sheriff Mart
í
nez is in charge of the evacuation at the jail. Gray and Mart
í
nez already have a working evacuation plan. They’ll be contacting their volunteer groups to aid in the evacuation. Just make sure you’re ready for your call tonight.”

After the law enforcement officers were dismissed, Josie and Otto walked to the police department to discuss plans for the night. The department was located directly across the street from the main entrance of the Arroyo County Courthouse. The PD was connected to the City Office on one side, where Mayor Steve Moss worked, and Tiny’s Gun Club on the other. The PD had two large plate-glass windows facing the courthouse square, with a glass door in the middle.
Artemis Police Department
was painted in gold across the window to the left of the door, with their motto,
To Serve and Protect
, painted on the other. She and Otto walked into the building and both sighed at the cool of the air-conditioning and the familiar stale smell of the office. Dispatcher Lou Hagerty rolled her desk chair back from her computer when she saw them.

Lou had recently gone on a health kick, giving up snack food, coffee, and soft drinks. She had lost thirty pounds, which had left her white dispatcher shirt and navy pants hanging loosely on her thin body. Josie was certain that Lou could pull on the pants and shirt without unbuttoning or unzipping anything. Her pants were cinched around her waist with a belt that Lou had proudly drilled a new hole in to accommodate her smaller size. Josie had suggested several times that Lou needed to order a new set of clothes, but Lou hadn’t taken the hint.

Despite this change in diet, Marlboro Lights still poked out of the side of Lou’s purse, which sat on her desktop, waiting for the break when she could leave the building and smoke two. Lou had made it very clear she had no intention of quitting cigarettes; she said they were keeping her healthy while she got through the first year of breaking the snack food habit.

“I just heard about the second fire,” Lou said. “You ready to start evacuations? I’ve already had several calls.”

“When people call, tell them we’ll be announcing all road closings and evacuation routes on Marfa Public Radio. Otto and I are pulling together the mandatory evacuation plans now. They’ll be announced first on MPR, and then we’ll start the phone trees. We could be moving people as early as tonight. My suggestion is head for the evacuation centers in Marfa or Presidio as a precaution.”

FOUR

Otto followed Josie up the stairs and waited behind her as she unlocked the door to the office. She flipped on the lights and heard the familiar buzz of the fluorescent bulbs. The room was split into three workspaces, for Josie, Otto, and Marta, furnished with matching metal desks and filing cabinets, with a large conference table in the front. Josie’s attention was drawn beyond Otto and Marta’s desks to the large windows that made up the back wall. The view was grim; the sky was dark and she was no longer able to tell if she was seeing the overcast sky or smoke from the Harrison Ridge fire.

She found the Artemis evacuation plan in her filing cabinet. She ignored the county map. The fire had already spread through the upper two-thirds of the county and the residents there had been evacuated days ago to Presidio County. Doug had said it would be several days before residents of the two towns up north would be allowed to return home.

Otto grabbed them each a water bottle out of the dorm-sized refrigerator located at the back of the office. He handed one to Josie and said, “It’s been almost six years since we faced an evacuation like this. I got a call from the director of EMS. She says they’re ready with shelters set up at the schools in Presidio.”

“I talked to Helen too. She says they have meals ready on standby to cover three days, and bedding for three hundred. I sure hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Josie sat down beside Otto at the conference table and opened a photocopy of the local map they had drawn up several years ago. It was split into three regions encompassing the town of Artemis and the ranches closest to the town. Circling the top part of the map with her finger, she said, “I’ll take the region up north by the mudflats. That’ll be the area hit first.”

Next, she pointed to the middle of the map. “Obviously this is the most populated because it includes downtown. You’ll take this area. You’ve got your list of volunteers?”

Otto nodded. “I’ll start calling as soon as we’re done here. I have six people designated, all business owners who offered to make their own phone calls.”

“Good. Marta’s in charge of the most remote areas on the east and west sides of Artemis. She’ll have the hardest time reaching people.”

“She’ll also have the largest number of people who refuse to evacuate.”

Josie ignored the comment. It was a frustration, but one they had little control over. “Let’s get our volunteers called now and put them on alert. I want them ready to make their calls immediately when we get orders from Doug.”

“You got it,” he said.

“I’m going to run home and check in with Dell. Then I’ll start making calls.”

*   *   *

The fifteen-minute drive from downtown Artemis took Josie along one of the few paved roads outside of the city limits: Farm Road 170, a rolling, curving road that washed out each year when the monsoon rains started, but now allowed for clear and easy driving. Josie passed by the Spanish daggers with their six-foot-high stalks topped with creamy white blooms just now drying, and she tried to imagine the landscape as nothing but scorched earth. She turned off onto Schenck Road and crested a hill that provided the perfect view of her small adobe home at the base of the Chinati Mountain range. At sunset, the house seemed to absorb the colors of the sky, often appearing pink. That evening, with the setting sun blocked by clouds, the house took on the gray cast of the mountains behind it. The house had a deep front porch held aloft by hand-hewn pecan timbers that her neighbor and closest friend, Dell Seapus, had helped her install. The front of the house faced the Chihuahuan Desert, which stretched beyond the Rio and deep into Mexico. The lane ran back behind her house and a quarter mile farther up to Dell’s ranch.

Josie pulled onto the lane and drove on past her house to check in with Dell. He had been worried about his cattle and the possible evacuation if the fire came their way. She got out of her jeep and he opened the front door of the cabin so her bloodhound, Chester, could bound outside to greet her. While Josie was away at work, Chester spent his days following Dell around the ranch, lying in the shade and watching him tend to chores.

Dell was a seventy-something-year-old bachelor who claimed to like animals more than people. He’d never been married, having sworn off women as a pain in the ass many years ago. Josie was his one exception. She had gotten to know Dell during a monthlong investigation involving the theft of his prized Appaloosas. When Josie brought the horses back unharmed, he had deeded her ten acres in front of his property and helped her build her home.

Dell skipped the small talk. “What’s the latest on the Harrison Ridge fire?”

“It’s not good news. It’s headed directly toward the mudflats. Another fire jumped the Rio and it’s burning along the riverbank just south of us.”

Dell frowned. “Fire coming at Artemis from both directions?”

“That’s the fear. We’re facing mandatory evacuations tonight.”

“Damn it. How about us?”

“Unless the wind direction changes, I hope we’re far enough to the west that we’ll be okay. Marta is in charge of the evacuation on this side of town.”

“I got the cattle moved over to the Saddle Market this afternoon. At least they’re safe.”

“You’ll keep Chester with you tonight?”

“You bet,” he said. Dell rubbed his hand over the stubble on his cheeks. His silvery hair was matted around his head from the band on his cowboy hat. He was shirtless. His bare chest was the color of tanned leather, and his blue jeans looked as if they might disintegrate through one more trip in the washer.

“What does that mean for you?” he asked. “For the department?”

“I came home to call the volunteers and put them on alert.”

“What can I do?”

“I’d like you to ride with me if we evacuate the mudflats. I need to keep Marta and Otto open to cover other areas of the county in case Doug needs them.”

“You’re talking about the homes out where the Blessings live?”

“That’s it. There’s less than a dozen houses in the direct line of fire, but we’ll go door-to-door if it comes to that. My guess is the order will come tonight.”

Dell nodded. “I’ll be ready. Who gives the order?”

“Doug Free will call me.”

“You need supper?”

She raised a hand to brush the question off. “I’m not hungry. I need to start calling volunteers.”

“I’ll bring some brisket down.”

*   *   *