That's an excellent point. Stay-and-defend doesn't make sense for all situations, and it will obviously work best in cases where some thought and preps have gone into the problem well before the fire approaches. Another primary factor is your personality. If you don't have the appropriate temperament for stay-and-defend, then you're safer (and you won't be putting fire fighters in danger) by getting out early.

Actually, another option that hasn't gotten much press is shelter-in-place. In 2007, my friends living in a new housing development on the edge of Irvine in Orange County were basically given a shelter-in-place order rather than the evacuation orders that most nearby communities were announcing. Tougher fire/building codes and homes/communities built more fire resistant from the start make shelter-in-place an option. (In this case, shelter-in-place basically means stay-at-home, not really the use-plastic-sheeting-and-tape-up-all-cracks activity that most people think of when they hear the term "shelter-in-place"). In my friends' case, the fire scorched the grassy hills right up to the edge of their housing development, but no homes burned.