I've been on several fires involving loss of firefighter life. In nearly all cases involving windfire-related deaths, going back a century, the circumstances have been close to identical in terms of burn conditions, time of day, etc. It nearly always happens during the "burn period, between about 11 am and 4 pm, under eerily similar conditions of wind, temperature, relative humidity, and in many cases, fuel types, etc. In a threat and safety-focused industry, the same things keep happening the same way, decade after decade. It boggles the mind.

One of the fires most discussed and written about over the years was the loss of life at South Canyon, in Colorado. I came across an article I hadn't read once; it was penned by an experienced firefighter who was commenting on a key point for the smoke jumpers who were killed near the top of the fire. They were trying to outrun the advancing flames that raced up the canyon from below. They were carrying saws, packs, explosives, fuel, and hand tools, and an oft-made point of discussion is that had they ditched the tools, they might have made it. They died very near a safe zone where they would have been clear, or at least able to deploy their shelters. The reality is that one's tools are life, on a fire, and it's nearly unthinkable to drop them. Easy to say, very hard to do. The firefighter penning the article recounted a fire he'd been on, with a rookie sawyer, when they were "running for the black," trying to make it ahead of an advancing flame front, to a safe zone. This firefighter came up on the rookie, who was carrying a chainsaw as he ran (wildfire chain saws are not what you have your garage. They're big, He screamed at the rookie, urging him on, and when the rookie showed no signs of dropping the saw, the experienced firefighter took it from him, shouting as they ran, motivating the rookie to move faster, until they made it to the black (burned area...safety).

"That's when I looked down," he wrote, "and the saw was in my hand." His point was obvious; it can happen to any of us. He knew better, he tore the saw away from the rookie, but didn't let it go, himself...didn't even realize he had it. Fire is a wonderful motivator; it incites reactions that border on primal. We do what we practice, what's reactionary. We just stowed the luggage, we exit in reverse order...we were told to leave the luggage, but that's not what we practiced. We practiced boarding with the luggage and stowing it. That's our only training...as passengers. We seldom rise above our training or experience. Police officers have died in gunfights because they stopped to police up their brass...nearly unimaginable to stop fighting, and pick up the brass casing, and to die for it, but it's happened...because that's how the officers trained, and that's exactly how they fought. People still try to return to the door they entered, even though it's not the closest exit.

I've taken 911 calls from people who were inside the burning structure, asking what they should do. Get out. Seems obvious. It wasn't. I've dropped on burning structures, or tried, when people wouldn't leave their home. I had to abandon the drop and let it burn, because I couldn't drop with them present; they'd have been killed. Their refusal to leave led to the loss of their home. Reason under pressure isn't always good reason.

With proper coaching , people do manage to get off airplanes without luggage, and there will alway be those who will try. Lock those overhead bins, and there will alway be those who die trying to pry them open. Can't leave the big fire, without pookie bear. Sooner or later, there will be a fire that can't be stopped because it was in that bin and it couldn't be reached. The fire damaged the electric lock, or the mechanism, etc.