Dawn broke hot and wrong. The usually vibrant forest was silent. An ominous feeling growing from the lack of birdsong and movement. It was still, heavy, foreboding like nature itself was holding its breath.
Starling dutifully made their morning observations as the sun crawled into the sky.
Day 37 - 04:00 - Dawn. 17C Sky Clear. Wind NNE, 8 KM/H. Humidity 4%, Pressure dropping
Note: No birdsong - second morning in a row.
06:00 - Sky Clear. 19C Wind NE, 12 KM/H, Humidity 4%, Pressure dropping
Note: Signs of wildlife pushing west
08:00 - Sky Clear. 21C Wind ENE, 14 KM/H, Humidity 3%, Pressure dropping
Note: Air tastes dry, like metal in my mouth. Haven’t seen a single bird on the thermals all morning.
They continued to write a little extra with their 8am entry, using the logbook as a diary.
Breakfast - Beans with toast. Last slice. Need to order more perishables. The weather continues hot and dry. Everything points to this going bad. It’s just going to take one spark to cause a huge wildfire.
The numbers told a story they didn’t want to acknowledge. Six years of experience surviving in the wild and a season in a watch tower like this one, they had never seen conditions this perfect for a catastrophe.
Starling sighed and mopped up the last of the sauce on their plate with the crusty piece of toast in their hand while they updated their logbook with the other. Putting down the pencil, they sat back, munching on the toast and looked out over the forest spread around them. The view from the firewatch tower was, of course, absolutely stunning and was one of the greatest pleasures they had living here in such a remote location.
Every morning Starling would get up and watch the sun creep over the crowns of the large ancient fir trees surrounding their tower. The light would break through the treetops, fingers of radiance playing across the landscape until the sun broke the horizon and the light swept across everything. It was one of the most magnificent things they had ever seen and it never seemed to get old. There was a calming peace to seeing it every morning that resonated with Starling in a way nothing else seemed to have up until now. Their view of the surrounding landscape from the tower was broken only by the distant peaks of mountains on the edge of the horizon and the rocky outcropping of Carrigan’s Hold to the south. Sitting in the tower felt like looking out over an endless green sea, lush with the smell of pine sap and the clearest air they had ever smelled. The last few months had been peaceful, serene, quiet and they finally felt the past falling behind them. The panic attacks, sleepless nights, constant crippling doubt and the agony of loss were fading. Life was simple here, mistakes weren't deadly. People could relax.
Starling's job was simple, every half hour they checked the horizon, checked the wind, the humidity and the air pressure, recorded them and if anything was out of the ordinary reported it on the radio. The radio sat on a shelf to the side of their desk. Most fire-watchers would keep their radio close at hand, the receiver open and burbling with distant conversation with other towers and control. Starling didn't like the company, in fact they treasured the solitude of the tower. So they kept it set to the off position unless they needed to report in.
With a groan they stood, shook their head and stretched, breaking out of the reverie. Young bones protesting as they arched their back catlike and held it till they felt the tension release. Another hike today maybe, keep in shape, don't get too comfortable sitting in the tower all day. “Keep your skills sharp” a grizzled voice reminded them in their memory, which whilst initially warm to recall quickly turned sour with pain and they shook it away.
Picking up their plate and mug they quickly washed them in the sink with the pan and other breakfast utensils, drying it all efficiently and putting it away. Starling's tower was... bare, there wasn't much in the way of creature comforts or personal affects here. This tower was only accessible via a several day hike through the wilderness, supply drops were expensive, but Starling managed to afford their vice, a single small LEGO set a month. Making their meager monthly pay packet stretch to afford them, on top of the air-drop fees, after paying off their mounting student loans was tough but it was fun to put them together, especially in the evenings when there wasn’t a lot else to do. Starling hadn't really seen the need to bring much with them when they first came out, but the sets had filled the tedium when things got dark. Their phone didn’t get any signal, but they had done the best they could to download as many building references, construction guides and novels as they could before coming out. The older Wardens liked to read paperbacks, but Starling liked to read on the little screen.
A couple of battered books, a well made compass, carabiners and a worn but sturdy climbing harness and good sturdy boots made up the rest of their belongings here. All of them looked new but well used, boots scuffed and harness worn. The quality showed in the way the wear didn’t weaken any of the equipment. Scattered around the window sills were the different finished LEGO sets. Starling had collected all of the succulent and plant sets, making a cute garden in one corner - which they found ironic since even here in the wild they couldn’t keep a plant alive. They were desperate for some of the bigger sets but space was tight in a drop and this was the best they could do. No pictures of friends and family, no postcards or letters on the few areas of wallspace available, instead there were a couple of awards and certification for survival and wilderness qualifications, all dated within the last couple of years.
They had left most of the rest of their life behind when they came out here.
Starling looked over at the calendar and charts on the central table of their tower. Due to the large windows on every wall to provide the clearest views possible there was no real space to hang anything up, so these were laid flat instead.
It was day thirty-seven of the season, already there had been four small fires, thankfully caught quickly, and one larger one that had taken the intervention of water dumped from aircraft - this was shaping up to be a very busy period.
The forest hadn't seen any rain for several months now, and whilst the evergreens were still looking vibrant there was a dryness around that had Starling on edge. The forest floor was like tinder, littered with dry sticks that cracked alarmingly when you walked and the whole place had this apprehensive feeling of holding its breath. To the west of their tower was Howard's Spring, a small nature survival camp for teenagers - the spring was the only real source of water in the area and even they were reporting that the lake it fed was starting to seriously recede. Starling made sure to always start their checks in this direction each day - they didn't want anyone to get hurt on their watch. Anyone else.
Their radio made a beep, someone was broadcasting on the primary channel. Starling would need to check in, they pulled the unit up onto the table and flicked it online.
The radio crackled into life with the morning check-in.
"All towers, all towers, this is Jericho. Good Morning tree housers!”, a familiar jovial voice rang out. “Here is your daily update from home base! Weather reports are looking concerning but we should be fine - It’s hot and dry but there is no sign of anything like a rogue thunderstorm. Please practice extreme vigilance. Report any heat haze, smoke trails or concerns to the emergency channel as per standard procedure and wait for home base to make a decision, oh, and keep this channel free for general communication. I hope you all have another great day out there in the wilds with absolutely no creature comforts. You Weirdos! Jericho out"
Starling grimaced. Report back? Wait for instructions? Things could move way too fast for that to happen. They stood and did a quick rotation, eyes on the horizon as they turned looking out over the forest in each direction.
Tower 14’s voice broke the silence, broadcasting on the open channel.
"Jericho, Tower 14, we've seen an uptick of near misses with campers lighting fires. Are there any plans on closing the park? Over."
Usually Starling would have missed this exchange, habit making them turn off the radio after the check-in but something made them linger in doing so today.
"14, Jericho.” The joviality was suddenly missing from the base controller's voice. “We can't close the parks unless a state of emergency is declared. The County Parks Department already spoke to the governor about it and he told them he wasn't going to close the state parks in the middle of summer holidays, we just need to be extra vigilant here. Over"
"Jericho, Tower 14, That total bull-"
Starling cut off Tower 14 by turning the radio down, but they left it on - volume low rather than off like usual. It seemed they weren’t alone in their concerns today, but that didn’t matter. Nobody paid attention to the experts until it was too late. They had a bad feeling they might need the radio later.
--
14:00 - 31C Sky Clear. Wind NW 22 KM/H. Humidity 0%, Pressure dropping
As the day passed things developed in a concerning manner, the wind picked up and was behaving erratically, now at speeds that battered the windows of the tower and made it creak and groan from the stress being applied. The direction swung around as the pressure hung heavily over the park. The temperature had continued to climb and the air was bone dry. The pressure also pushing the cloud cover away, making the outside oppressive and heavy on exposed skin, making metal burn to the touch and even the wood of the trees feel warm and concerning. A feeling of anxiety and looming disaster was growing in the back of Starling's mind and they were itching to take action. “Look what happens when you go off the book!” an angry voice kept ringing through their head everytime they decided to do something, so they waited, near the radio, hoping for a call. The buzz of the open frequency hung in the heavy air like a fat mosquito looking for prey.
Finally, after nearly an hour of pregnant, stifling silence they made a decision and picked up the receiver.
"Jericho, Tower 38," Starling said clearly, looking out over the forest as they spoke.
"It's getting really hot out here, I'm going to start evacuation procedures for the people in my area. Please be advised that they might need pickup if they can't get out of here in time. Over."
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
"38, This is Jericho," the response came through quickly. "That's a negative kid,“ Starling winced, five years of experience and qualifications and they still got the ‘kid’ treatment from the older wardens. “We don't want to spread panic here, look there are no reported fires and the weather forecast is showing a pressure wave with rain right behind it, we just need to hold on for a few more hours. Don’t do something stupid and hasty, let wiser minds make the decisions. Do not start evacuation without an express order from Jericho, do you copy 38?"
"38 copies. Out".
Starling shook their head, idiots. It was time to take action, doing things by the book, not following your instincts, Starling knew what happened if you remained totally rigid and unable to improvise.
Turning the dial on the radio they changed to a different frequency and made a call.
"Howard Spring, Tower 38, come in please."
They left the radio on and scanned the horizon. Hmm, was that a haze to the east? Rooting around in the drawers they dug out their binoculars and looked out towards the suspicious sighting. Yes, there was a heat haze about 20 miles East. No sign of smoke pillars but that wasn't a good sign. Starling felt their stomach tighten. Suddenly the radio coughed into life.
"38, Howard Springs, we read you, what is your message, over?"
Starling put down the binoculars and moved to the middle of the room. They reached out and grabbed the handset with one hand and brought it up to their mouth while another spread out a map of their area and started to note the location of the haze on it.
"Howard, I am advising you to evacuate now if you haven't already started to do so, I can see a heat haze to the east and you don't want to get trapped. Over"
The reply came back after a couple of seconds, as though it took the recipient a couple of seconds to process what Starling had just said.
"38, this is Howard Springs, we haven't had an official word of evacuation, are you sure? We have paying guests here. Over."
Starling replied quickly, trying to emphasise their concern with the swiftness of their reply.
"Howard, 38, if you want to make it out of the forest before this all goes up you need to move now, this isn't a joke. Get out."
Starling let out a little growl and changed the frequency again, switching it to the radio for a small set of cabins out to the west and repeated the conversation.
--
The afternoon had continued to worsen, and sometime after four o'clock Starling's worst fears were realised, smoke was spotted to the east and reported from multiple towers. The wildfire was spreading fast and the wind was blowing the flames to the west. Jericho had finally called an evacuation, but little did they know Starling’s territory had started to clear out hours ago. Starling was packing to evacuate themselves, they had their boots on and their pack ready at the door. They were doing some last minute work mapping up escape corridors for the hikers and survival campers who were thankfully already working their way westwards towards safety.
Suddenly the radio crackled into life.
"Tower 38! Tower 38! This is Howard Springs Handset, come in please! Mayday Mayday"
Mayday? What had happened?
Without hesitating they picked up the radio receiver and pressed the button to go live.
"This is Tower 38, go ahead Handset what's going on? Over?"
The response was distorted and weak, but Starling could make it out.
"Tower 38 we can see smoke ahead of us, we don't think the path ahead is safe, the camp ranger isn't with us and nobody knows the trails well enough. Can you lead us out of here?"
Starling spun and looked westward, sure enough, a dark plume of smoke was fountaining up from the forest in that direction, matching the thickness of the smoke rapidly approaching from the east. The wind was still whipping around under this pressure center and it must have picked up some sparks and carried them. The campers were cut off from safety and needed another destination. Starling looked at their map, quickly eliminating potential destinations as they reflected back on their knowledge of the area. Tracing fingers across the paper they finally saw an opportunity.
Starling took a deep breath before they answered.
"Handset, have you reached the Tarkan Riverbed yet? Over." The dry riverbed was one of the few landmarks obvious to people on the forest floor.
The group came back quickly, likely hanging on everything that Starling said.
"Not yet 38, we should be crossing it soon"
There was panic in the voice when the campers replied, so Starling tried to project calm as they replied again.
"Handset, don't cross the river bed, it might work as a firebreak for you. When you hit it turn North and follow it up the rise to the lookout on the Hold. Walk up the middle of the riverbed if you can, there isn’t any brush there. How many of you are there?"
A few coughs preceded the reply.
"15 of us Tower 38, with 4 children. We should have gone earlier but the ranger told us to wait… What do you want us to do when we get there?"
Starling paled, fifteen of them? And four children.
"Standby Handset, I'm making another outbound call"
Starling quickly switched to the emergency channel
"Jericho, this is Tower 38, I have 15 Sur" there was a squelch and then a loud bang.
The lights in the tower went out abruptly. Starling was left in the sudden darkness, skyline illuminated with the fires reflected off of the smoke coming their way.
The power line.
The fire must have cut off the power, and the battery had just run out, they hadn't even noticed it had cut in, a sure sign that the pressure was getting to them. Without power the radio was down and they couldn't call for an evac for the campers.
Not for the first time Starling wondered why all the towers didn’t have solar panels, Starlink connection, backup battery phones and even wind up radios. Why was everything stuck in the 1980’s out here?
It took them only a second to work out what to do. They grabbed a t-shirt from their washing, soaked it in water from the sink - which came out worryingly warm - and wrapped it around their mouth and nose. Tying it tight behind their head. Looking like a desperado from a western they burst from the door and out into the hot, heavy air of the forest. It was a struggle to breath through the makeshift mask, literally having to suck air through the wet fabric, but it would give Starling a few minutes against the smoke before it dried.
The wind buffeted them against the side of the tower as they raced down the stairs. The heat was high, drying out the improvised mask quickly. The wind carried ash and sparks past them as they raced down the staircase and the light was quickly fading. Sparks swirled and floated around the tower, flitting like incandescent butterflies in the eddies. Oppressive heat pressed on them from the west and they could hear the roar of the fire, still out of sight but making itself known with the heady smell of woodsmoke. Under the tower sat a small gasoline generator - for emergencies only. This felt like an appropriate time to use it.
Starling knew it was ready to go. They checked it every couple of days, making sure it was well oiled, full of fuel and that the starter motor was working.
Starling paused, hand hovering over the pull cord. The fire roared to the West, closer than they had thought. If they wanted to get out, now was probably their last chance. They had maybe five minutes to flee the tower. Five minutes to save themselves.
But fifteen people were counting on that radio call. Four children.
Their bag was ready by the door. All they had to do was run back up the stairs, grab it, and go.
Four children.
One path led to survival, the other…
I can’t let these people die if one radio call will make the difference
With that single pull of the cord, Starling sealed their fate. The generator sputtered to life, and above them the radio crackled to life with renewed power - their one way to help the stranded campers, and their leash to this tower.
"Tower 38! This is Jericho! Come in 38!" a voice shouted from the radio upstairs and Starling raced back up the stairs to pick up the call.
"This is 38, I lost power, I'm on the backup. I have 15 civilians cut off from escape by additional fires. They are heading for the Hold lookout, can you get a chopper to them?"
Jericho answered with only a moments delay.
"Confirmed 38, 15 survivors at Carrigan’s Hold Lookout, we will have an SAR chopper with them in around 20 minutes. What about you?"
What about me?
Starling thought for a second and looked up, things had changed dramatically while they had been down with the generator, the horizon was blocked in every direction with smoke, and they could see the deep red of fire through a lot of it very close to the tower.
"Negative Jericho, get to those survivors. I'm not going anywhere".
Starling felt like they should be scared. There wasn't anywhere to go. This fire was spreading like nothing they had seen, but.. they felt at peace.
They weren't going to fail anyone this time.
Before Jericho could reply they switched back to the campers frequency. "Hammond Handset, this is 38, come in"
A voice quickly answered with a flurry of coughs before managing words
"38, this is the Handset, it's Jane speaking. The smoke is really thick, we are following the river up the incline"
"Handset… Jane, this is 38 - Starling.” Starling abandoned the radio messaging protocol to try and connect with the survivor on the other end of the line. “Keep going, there is a chopper going to pick you up. There isn't much brush up there once you break the treeline, you are going to get out. You are going to make it. Drop everything you don't need, don't carry bags, just get moving."
Jane replied and Starling continued to guide them up the mountain, knowing the route well having hiked it many times. They could see each step, each turn in their mind's eye. They kept up a constant guided ascent, making sure the survivors didn’t take a wrong turn or get stuck. Meanwhile the temperature rose, the tower began to groan and shudder as the metal supports began to heat up in the wildfire. The generator wouldn't last much longer.
"This is Jane.. we made it up to the lookout, god the smoke, it goes on forever..."
"Starling here. hold out, there is a chopper coming. You are all going to be fine, get down as low as you can and try to breathe as little of the smoke as possible.”
"Thank you Starling, we couldn't have done this without you, we all owe you a beer when we get out of here..."
Starling didn't reply. Starling couldn’t reply.
The generator gave up below them.
The power went out.
The tower went dark.
The radio died.
In every direction Starling looked there was fire and smoke, the world itself had vanished, it was just fire now.
Coughing they looked over toward the Hold, the peak pushed up through the smoke cover, exposed above everything else. Lights above it showed a helicopter approaching. The people were being picked up.
They made it out. All of them. Starling’s heart swelled with pride even as they acknowledged how bleak their situation was.
The tower lurched and fell as the heat rose. Starling let out a gasp as they lost their balance and grabbed the table for support. The tower caught itself at a skew, the floor angled sharply but it hadn’t fallen all the way to the ground. Starling ran to grab their pack where it sat on the peg by the door. Maybe they could run for the lake? They reached for the doorknob and cursed, the handle burned their hand. Looking through the window, the trees around their tower were burning pyres now, the fire covering them like a flickering red blanket. As they watched a loud crack echoed over the roar of the fire and a large pine started to fall, straight towards the tower.
Starling didn’t react, they just stood there as the blazing tree seemed to slowly, almost beautifully fall. The flames streaked out behind it, great clouds of sparks and ash flowing in its wake. It struck the tower, the impact shaking everything. There was a creak, a groan, a snap and the cabin tilted. The whole thing started to fall, gravity pulling it down into the fire below.
Instead of fear, they felt peace.
This time, I didn't let anyone down.
There was a crash, a flash of heat, the world went light, then dark.
Silence.