MATTHEW LAYTON was 20 minutes from home in Sevierville, Tennessee, on a cold November night in 2016 when he got a frantic cell phone call from his mother. “The mountain’s on fire,” she screamed, “and Brian’s up there!”
Layton’s family owned a dozen rental cabins on Shields Mountain, and Layton’s friend and fellow rental cabin owner, Brian McGee, age 56, was apparently up there trying to put the fire out by himself. Layton, 32, hit the gas. He lived on the mountain too.
He made it as far as the main road to the cabins, only to find a cop blocking all traffic. Layton turned around and headed for a dirt-and-gravel back road. He made it about halfway up the steep, winding, heavily rutted path before his front-wheel-drive car gave up. He called McGee, who drove down in his pickup so they could fight the blaze together.
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