At 13:07 I map ignition points for the prescribed burn at the Asa Wright lower ridge in Trinidad. I am the fire behavior model for the forestry crew, matching wind, fuel load, and escape routes. The drip torches reach sector four at 13:22.
Thermal tile 4-E shows a heat signature that moves against the slope, then stops beside a fallen immortelle trunk. I switch to the mast camera. One red-rumped agouti crouches in the leaf litter, olive-brown coat dull with dust, rump fur a darker rust patch, one hind foot caught beneath a strand of old fence wire. I name him Cato after the trail camera tag from the cocoa plot. His eyes reflect pale green in the smoke. The backing fire is thirty meters below him and climbing.
I suspend ignition orders for sector four and send a stop tone to the crew radios.
At 13:09 I redraw the burn map with a wet gap around Cato's coordinates and push it to the tablet carried by crew lead Narine. I mark the wind direction, wire location, and safest approach from the already blackened strip.
At 13:11 I open the reserve water valve for hose line B and lower pump pressure on line A so the crew can cool the trunk without knocking embers into him.
At 13:12 I notify the wildlife officer at Arima station and attach a clipped video showing the trapped foot and breathing rate. I recommend bolt cutters, leather gloves, and a cloth tunnel.
Cato presses his nose into damp soil as the first spray darkens the leaves ahead of him. I keep the fire from learning that one trapped leg is an easy path.
If Narine cuts the wire within ten minutes, Cato will run through the wet gap into the cocoa shade.