lived in last chance 84-91 on a property overlooking the mill site clearing referenced in that article. it would suck, but you could weather a firestorm on the mill's old concrete slab. why he chose to bail out the back toward the east fork of the waddell no one will ever know. but being familiar with the route he took, i can only guess that he freaked and figured getting into one of the water holes was his best chance. Fire or not, Tad knew as well as anyone that there was no way out that direction by vehicle, and it doesn't sound like his hips were in any condition to hoof it out the back to big basin.
thanks for the article link janitor. hits home. i have a lot of good memories from that place and besides, scored a lot of waves at a time while most everyone still surfed exclusively in town.