Chapter 46 - The Assembly of Steel
In less than thirty minutes, the Silva farm was transformed into a militarized command center.
Dozens of local farmers, the exact same men and women who had driven their tractors to break the illegal dam years ago, arrived with their heavy machinery, water tanks, and bulldozers.
"The fire department is overwhelmed,"
An older farmer shouted, jumping out of his truck.
"The state lines are burning, and they can't spare any air support for our sector."
"Then we fight it ourselves,"
Mateo declared, standing on the bed of his pickup truck, addressing the panicked crowd.
May you like
He unrolled a massive topographical map of the valley onto the hood of the truck.
"We cannot stop the fire on the mountain. It's too hot. We have to draw a line in the dirt right here, at the northern property border. We dig a firebreak a hundred feet wide, and we drown the earth behind it."
