A fellow firefighter friend of mine, Scott Blecha, was a fellow lifeguard in college as well. More specifically he was a Smokejumper, which in my opinion is like the equivalent of a Ranger or Commando. He was one of the 14 who died on Storm King. They ran as hard as they could, a few made it out and some of them with some burns, but others were not able to crest the ridge before it crowned out. It is doubtful that even fire shelters (sometimes affectionately referred to as shake-n-bake shelters) would have helped in this instance, so explosive was the fire in the trees once it flashed. Scott died trying to help others make it to safety. The real tragedy was he had proposed to his fiance a few weeks prior to this fire.