Why didn’t the people of Mutton know where the fire had started?

It was difficult for the people of Mutton to know when or where the fire had started but there was no time to wonder for the little town had to defend itself. Only when the wind died and the fire was out would the black signs of where it had started become visible. In the smoke and dost no one could tell. Grass fires driven by such winds usually pushed a great cloud of smoke ahead of them so that it was impossible to know where the flames were. People could walk right through the smoke-trap into the fire.
      The people already knew, though, that this fire was different from fires in previous years. Heat was extreme, and the suddenness of the outbreak was extreme. Because the fire was almost on them, and because they had only a limited amount of water, they decided to defend rather than attack.
     Owners of sheep or cattle raced for their horses and galloped away to drive their herds to the nearest grass-flee field--a field which had been prepared for just such an emergency. No one thought of running away from the fire in their cars. Too many had died that way in the past, smashed against a tree or a fence. If the worst happened, they would go into their housos, shut every door and window, block every hole and wait.
They would wait in calm or in terror for the flames to pass--or not to pass.