I asked my brother the firefighter that question after he finished his wildland training. He laughed- not the "of course" laugh, or the "are you joking" laugh, more of the "if they issued us toe tags it would be bad for morale" laugh.

For the size, the Thermolite bivy from AMK is a better buy. Use the proper tool and you'll be happy. The fire shelter was designed to give you a chance at surviving a fast moving fire. The Thermolite was designed to be an emergency sleeping bag.

Here's a firsthand description of the firefighters deploying their shelters that day.

Arney..the LA Times wants a sign up--i got my info right from
NFS site..

http://www.latimes.com/la-burnover-f,0,732907.flash?coll=la-home-center

Pictures and radio traffic from the Orange County Deployment.

Thank you for sharing. Very interesting.