SINFUL DESIRES
Chapter 1: Prescribed
The burn plan was forty-seven pages.
Yara had written it over six weeks, incorporating soil moisture data, fuel load assessments, historical fire behavior in this specific ecosystem, and the ecological outcomes she needed the fire to achieve. The plan was precise. It had a three-day weather window in late October, specific ignition points mapped to the meter, exit conditions that would terminate the burn if any variable moved outside the acceptable range.
She presented it to the crew at seven in the morning on a Monday, in the ranger station’s small meeting room, and when she got to the timing section the crew leader crossed his arms.