Don't be stupid

I never knew what those words meant when I went through wildfire training at the Register. Our required training covered all the basics of covering a wildfire, something I was assured I might cover - but something I never really thought I would.
Until Sunday night when I got the call of a 20-acre fire in the wildlife preserve north of Irvine, the city I cover. But over the last few days, the situation has become much worse - and I've been covering wildfires.
The main lesson I've learned through this is not to be stupid. I hope you all remember that. Yesterday while standing on Modjeska Grade Road up in the canyons of Orange County and a firefighter told me that the fire leaping over the road behind us was a sign that we should leave.
The reporter I was with thought we should stay until we could contact our editors and ask permission to leave. We couldn't call out, though, with no reception.
Then I remembered those words "don't be stupid."
Even though I'd spent the whole morning driving around and trying to get to where the houses were on fire so I could describe it on our newspaper's Web site, I knew it was time to leave.
And we did, and only about 15 minutes later did all of the firefighters pull out of that same area because it was not safe enough.
Just a big lesson I learned while covering the wildfires. Anyone else out there covering the blazes?