Thanks for reminding me. Certainly this individual may have been an experienced outdoorsman whose equipment failed him. Hindsight analysis might cause him to rethink using fire for a signaling device when he is in a tinderbox even if the equipment were rated for that use.

What I am trying to say here is less about judging the individual involved and more an attempt to bring out the survival lesson that using fire in an area prone to wildfire during the dryest season of the year is something we should all consider carefully. Whether you use that fire for signalling or cooking it is still a questionable activity in terms of survival value. You may signal help successfully, you may cook your dinner successfully - or you may burn yourself to death along with several tens of thousands of acres of forest and a few homes to-boot.

Each individual needs to evaluate their choices in implementing the use of their gear. We don't know all of the circumstances and probably never will but we can take away from what we do know the simple lesson that fire used in a dry forest carries dangers that may exceed the danger of not being found by rescue for a few more days.

If an individual files a plan of action with others, carries reasonable outdoor gear to deal with expected and unexpected weather, enough survival gear to get found then we may consider them experienced and wise. If further they find that they need to signal for aid they may choose between using their mirror, their cellphone, their whistle, their radio or their matches. If they choose to use their cellphone and there is no signal - try something else. If they have both legs broken and have lost all gear except matches but know that they are in a dry forest (something an experienced and wise outdoorsman should be able to determine from a quick visual inspection) they are indeed faced with a difficult situation. In such a situation a controlled fire may be difficult to build (both legs broken) and an uncontrolled fire is hard to run away from (both legs broken) having no signal is certain death from dehydration / hypothermia. What to do?

Certainly, a cautious evaluation of the use of a fire based signal in the context of a dry forest is a valuable lesson we can take from this individuals experience. Whether or not his actions were the best options available to him will have to wait knowledge of further details of his circumstance but those detals won't invalidate this lesson whatever they are.