“Fire!” rang the cry down the line until the call reached the mill, and every whistle was loosed in a screaming bedlam of sound to blanch the cheeks of these hardy men, who knew the awful terror of this devastating, devouring, fiery scourge that blasts the wilderness with smoke and ashes and takes its toll of both man and beast. Men dropped their tools and ran to answer the call.
The trapper’s dugout shot swiftly across the lake.
Connie lay reading in the shade of her cabin. She came to her feet at the whistle’s first call for help. A moment later, seated astride her cayuse, she was galloping down the hill.
Every man, regardless of position, answers the call to fight fire. When a forest fire is raging the forest ranger is an absolute sovereign. He can call the lawyer from his desk or the labourer from the ditch, but seldom does he need to exercise this power, as every good citizen is willing to help stay the deadly scourge. Meanwhile the fire was leaping from heap to heap of the powder-like slash to cross the road and sweep up the hill with incredible speed. With a throbbing roar it hissed to the tree-tops and rushed up the mountain. Stifling smoke enveloped the fire-fighters. Showers of burning bark pelted them from above.
“To the mill!” Wilkinson shouted; “we can do nothing here.”
The men at the mill filed silently to their stations, and the big hoses poured torrents of water on roof and wall. Big jets curved up the hill to drench the dry, hot earth.
In short, quick sentences Wilkinson outlined his plans.
“We will try to stop it on the north at the river, on the south with fire-breaks, and at the track on the east by back-firing. On the west we have to let the fire take its course until it burns itself out on the cliff above.” His voice rose in sharp command as he sent the men to their posts. Donald with twenty men under him was set to work digging a fire-break on the south side. A “fire-break” is made by spading up the leaf-mould and humus down to the mineral soil and raking all inflammable material back from each side.
The fire was advancing rapidly and the heat was terrific. Choking and gasping in the stinging resinous smoke, the men strove in frenzy of haste to complete the fire-break before the flames should reach them.
A deer with a fawn at her heels came bounding in terror through the screen of smoke. Grouse and song-birds made a common escape from a common enemy feared by all. Rabbits, wild-eyed, scuttled in fear; squirrels and chipmunks joined in the hurried flight. Many of these smaller birds and animals would be flanked and lost.