The Thing Redge Had Never Told Anyone

Zyx part 17 Continued.

Redge had thought about it the whole night before. Something he had carried since that two-week stretch on the fire ground — the wildfire that had brought so many of them in, all doing the best they could to put an end to it.

"Remember those C-130s?" Redge asked. "The ones with the four engines?"

Zyx was all ears. The ones that dive through the hills and canyons, he said. Yes, those.

"How do you suppose we warn them where we are in the fire — when we hear the sirens just before they open the gate to drop the retardant mix?"

Zyx thought for a moment. Good question. Honestly, he said, no — he had no idea how they let the pilots know they were there.

"We all had a hose, right?" Redge said. "Well — we point them straight up to the sky. They can usually see us since they're just above the treetops, and the force of our hoses

is strong enough to carry the water over the trees. That way we don't get thrown to the ground when the water bomber makes its run."

Simple. Ingenious. The pilot sees jets of water punching above the treeline and knows — people are down there. And the crew on the ground stays on their feet.