Cole looked around, found the hose in the wash rack, then decided that even though it wouldn’t reach the fire, he could keep the heat of the flames from spreading to the barn. Pulling the hose around the corner, he began dousing the wall and the ground.
People were calling back and forth about the location of the stock and each other. Cole glanced over his shoulder at the rumble of the fire engine. Red and blue lights added to the orange of the fire and made a macabre show. Within minutes, two of the firefighters directed the flow from the fire hose into the stack of hay that should have lasted them through the winter. Hay burns hot and is the epitome of ‘hot spots’ as the heat can be held inside the bales.
Once the flames at the front of the stack—which measured fifteen feet wide by twe
