Friday, August 25, 11am --- Exciting news. The Boise Hotshots, a crew of professional wildfire specialists, have asked that Pennsylvania crews accompany them into the mountains to set the backfires that will be used to stop the main blaze. The crews board helicopters and Clay gets his first ride in an eggbeater. They are dropped off at Helicopter Pad 91, one of ten such landing points previously prepared on mountain tops along the front of the advancing main fire. The Hotshots waste no time. A fire line is cut along the top of the mountain and then a drip torch is used to ignite the dry forest floor. This is a test burn to see if the backfire will burn down into the valley toward the main fire. If it works, the main fire will work down into the valley from the other side and then come to a hillside of already burned and cooling ground. This will rob it of fuel and either cause it to go out, or to cool sufficiently for the men to approach and fight it.
   The test burn does not go well, swinging back onto the men patrolling the fire line, jumping the that line again and again, and keeping the men busy and anxious for most of the afternoon. At one point Clay notices the bottoms of his pant's legs are glowing red with the heat --- sure sign that he is getting too close. Careful, careful --- don't get cocky, this thing can kill you. When one breakout gets too bad, the Hotshot's Crew Chief calls in a helicopter for a water drop of 1000 gallons onto the center of the blaze, and this cools it enough for the men to safely do their work. By evening, the test blaze is under control --- held with great effort at the fire line --- and the men are very tired. Now they knock off for the day and take a six-mile walk over two mountains to reach Pad 93, where their gear and some most welcome chow await. The Hotshots set a fast pace, but PA10 just manages to keep up.
   Pad 93 is a wide meadow on the top of a mountain. To the north, wave after wave of forested mountains, dotted with high pastures, make an inspiring sight. To the south lies just as much acreage, but this is the land of the fire and consists of blackened timber, burnt meadows, and the smoke of the main fire as it dies down a bit to rest out the cooler night. The men take their sleeping bags to the north side and quickly fall into an exhausted sleep.

   The next day is a better one. The winds are perfect and over six miles of mountainside are burned to prepare for the coming of the main blaze. They can hear its mighty, freight train-like roar now. When it does arrive at the area cleared by the backfire, the main fire halts and the men know that they are on their way to stopping the monster. Days later, the rains come and PA10 spends its remaining time in a sloppy, soppy, sooty, squishy moping up operation.

Saturday, September 2, 9am --- The men are showered and scrubbed and in clean uniforms of yellow and green as they board the bus back to Boise. This turns out to be the most terrifying part of the trip. The bus speeds down the narrow road, never slowing for any turn, and Clay ponders his mortality as the cliff edge slides by and the bus sways toward it at every twist of the road. Still, the bus keeps its rubber to the road, and hours later arrives back in Boise, where the tired men board the plane for home.

Saturday, September 2, 8pm --- Another man would haul himself through his front door and collapse into bed for a day or three. Another man would avoid the woodsy life for months to come. Not Clay Williams --- Tammy and Adam have gone camping at Jellystone Park near Butler, and so Clay joins them there for a smiling weekend in the leafy, green woods of Pennsylvania.