[starpilot]

Yeah, it's a little harsh for a story titled "Escape from x." The story pretty much ended when they decided to turn around from the fire, point 3 in their map: https://www.jmeshe.co/escape-from-creek-fire/photos/6959453. The trip got cut short, but it wasn't much of an escape.

Then again, wildfires can move 100 miles in a day, about 10x faster than a human. Like a viral pandemic, you have to make decisions before it feels dire. It sounded like though that they got enough information early on via satellite communicator to realize it wasn't an immediate threat. I think the author is guilty of mild over-dramatization.