I served in the forest service 1978-1982, first shovel on Vista Grande Hot Shots , Keenwild engine 56, Keenwild Helitack
We did a LOT of risky hotline in those days, I heard that today they just stand off and let it burn. When the SHTF the best plan is to escape.
I saw "Only The Brave" and was tempted to scream at the screen, according to the movie, the crew leader made every mistake he could make to get the crew killed, namely making a frontal assault in an afternoon run, instead of establing and anchor point, flanking the head and having at least two escape routes and have the crew call them out loud every few minutes , "escape route is XXX pass it on " ( back down the line or in to the burn) the baked potato wrapper was never an option to any of us
we had to run from the fire 5 times that I can remember, one time it burned all the paint off one side of the engine, we cut the hose and drove out slowly so as not to crash or run off the road in zero visibily, there is ususlly one on the crew who gets “shell shock” and starts yelling were gonna die and starts to do something stupid like try to jump out of the engine and run , or run in to unburned fuel