Chapter Eight: First Fire
The next morning I was woken by Crow tipping a bottle of water on my head and in my ear. When I looked at the clock I realised I had over slept. Crow told me that Blade had told her to wake me up.
Then, the siren went off.
"All aircraft and jumpers, lightning storm came through." Patch reported. "We've got multiple starts north of Skyline Drive, east of Coil Springs."
Blade lowered himself onto the base runway, Windlifter, Dusty, Crow, Dipper and I coming up to meet him. "Lightning storm started a whole slew of spot fires and they've merged. This is a big one."
"Winds are out of the southwest with a moderate rate of spread." Patch said.
Windlifter looked to the treetops, noticing how they swayed a little. "Rapid."
"Wait, we have an update: rapid rate of spread." Patch announced.
"Dipper, you and Windlifter load up." Blade ordered. "Champ and girls, wait in the hanger."
"What?" Dusty asked, disappointed.
"Blade, they have been practicing so hard." Dipper protested.
"This ain't no campfire." Blade growled.
"Come on, I can do this!" Dusty insisted.
"You're not certified." Blade snapped.
"Just give him a shot." Dipper practically pleaded.
Blade cast her a glare. "He's not certified!"
"We need every plane we've got." Windlifter finally said. Blade regarded the larger helicopter for a moment before turning his gaze to Dusty as the racer approached.
"I want to help." Dusty said firmly.
The helicopter stared at us as he started up his rotors, turning to fly off. "Maru!"
"Yeah, Blade?" Maru asked.
"Load him up!" Blade ordered, flying off.
"Uh, okay!" Maru agreed, pulling a retardant hose over to Dusty. He began filling the racer's pontoons, disappearing and then reappearing with a camera. He snapped a picture of us.
"What was that for?" Dusty asked.
Maru smirked. "The Wall."
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Finally, we understood what a "big one" meant. This fire was much larger than the first fire we saw, almost twice the size. Immediately, everyone got to work. The Smokejumpers did their jobs, the aircraft did theirs and Blade got Crow and me to keep an eye on the smokejumpers just for something to do. But the fire wasn't going out as quickly as I had hoped.
"Dipper, move into position." Blade ordered. "Split load. Coverage level eight."
"Dipper copies!" Dipper reported, dropping her load of retardant around the fire.
"Come left one wingspan on your next drop." Blade said. "Champ, tag on and extend. Split load."
"Copy that." Dusty said, moving in for a drop. Unfortunately, he didn't fly low enough and his retardant blew away in the wind.
"Too high!" Blade barked. "It all dispersed! Windlifter, finish off that ridge."
"Windlifter copies." The Skycrane said.
I looked over Dusty's wing and saw what looked like animals. Well they were animals, if you counted the wild threesome of Blackout, Avalanche, and Drip. "Blade, Smokejumpers are on the move."
"Copy that." Blade said.
"Blade!" Dynamite suddenly called into the radio. "We got a situation! The wind shifted. The fire jumped the line."
"Can you make it to your safety zone?" Blade asked.
"No, no good!" Dynamite said. "Our escape route is blocked. We need a drop."
"Copy that." Blade said.
Blade looked down to see his ground crew. "Dipper, Smokejumpers trapped. Left flank, set up for a drop."
"I see them!" Dusty suddenly said, diving down. "I've got it!"
"Dusty, wait!" Crow called as we shoot towards the Smokejumpers' position. Dusty perfectly dropped his retardant and snuffing out the flames around the Jumpers (while also staining the vehicles bright red).
"All right. We're clear." Dynamite said. "Let's move! Let's get to the lake!"
"That's my Dustmuffin!" Dipper cheered.
Dustmuffin? Oh he is never living that one down! I thought with a snicker
"Champ, load and return but leave the girls with Dipper." Blade ordered. "We still got a lot of work to do."
"Copy that!" Dusty turned, dropped us girls on Dipper's wings and hurried back to base.
"Dipper fly down and drop the girls off with the Smokejumpers." Blade instructed. "They will help to keep the fire away from the safety zone."
"Copy that." Dipper said dropping us off where the vehicles rested on a small, sandy area next to the lake.
"Just stay near the lake you two." Dynamite said, her voice fully serious. "Not much we can do now until it burns over."
We nodded and moved to stand amongst the Smokejumpers and watch the fire rage on.
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It literally took all day to get the fire under control and fully contained. By the time everyone got back, they were all pretty dirty and covered in smoke.
Dusty and Dipper were talking, the latter looking rather proud of himself. "I saw the Jumpers in trouble, so I —"
"You broke formation in a crowded airspace." Blade growled with a stern glare in his eyes. "Could've been you spread all over the woods instead of retardant. Don't go planning your certification party yet, Champ." He drove off, no doubt to hose down like the others would soon do.
Dusty slumped down a bit. "Ah, man."
"Come on, Blade's just telling you 'Good job' in his own way." Dipper said encouragingly. Dusty cast her a look. The sound of loud engines rang out and we all looked up to see a jet passing over the base. "Whoa! That was low!"
"Cad's VIPs." Windlifter realized.
"Oh yeah, that's right." Dusty remembered. "He's having a big party up at the lodge tonight. We should go!"
"A second date?" Dipper chuckled, looking excited.
"No, I meant all of us." Dusty said, looking mostly to Dipper. "You know you and me and the girls and Cloudy and Windlifter, and just everybody."
"Oh! Okay." Dipper looked a bit disappointed, but nodded. "You're right. I should get to know your friends."
Dusty stared at her. "But they're your friends."
"Well, yeah, I guess." Dipper chuckled before driving off towards the showers. "Let's not bicker."
Dusty cast a look to Windlifter, who raised an eye frame at him. And Maru thought it was a good idea to squirt us girls down with the hose but luckily on my part I had left my jumper in the hanger so it was still clean and dry as it was starting to get cool. Maru still got a death glare from me.
A/N: You may have noticed that Cloudy in not mentioned a lot. The reason is because when i first started to write this Cloudy was suppose to stay in Propwalsh but i changed my mind. And i keep mixing my self up and forgetting her.