The unfamiliar truck pulled up to the Sonoita-Elgin Fire District station, where crews were stopping to pick up supplies on their way to the Sawmill Fire.
The fire had stretched out over more than 40,000 acres. A crew of 600 firefighters and related personnel had been assigned to it. It was 20 percent contained and a wind had kicked up.
A couple of firefighters approached the truck, curious how a civilian vehicle had gotten past the roadblocks.
Roxanne Warneke, riding shotgun, rolled down her window.
It had been almost four years since her husband, wildland firefighter Billy Warneke, was killed by a raging blaze in Yarnell. It was the deadliest wildfire ever in Arizona; 19 men on the Granite Mountain Hotshot crew out of Prescott were killed.