On a cold November night, Layton was on his way home when he got an urgent call from his mother. “The mountain's on fire.” she 1, “and many rental guests were up there.”
Layton's family 2 a dozen rental cottages on Shields Mountain. At the thought of this, Layton 3 the gas on the dirt back road.
He 4 first to Layton's rental cottages to make sure whether his guests were 5. Fortunately, all his guests were. At that point, he made up his mind to 6 his cottages to rescue tourists 7 other cottages nearby.
Over the next two hours 
he travelled through the 8 mountain, knocking on doors and leading 9 people to safety. Knowing the mountain so well, he drove one after another family down the mountain on roads 10 in smoke in his pickup. When one family was 11 from the fire, Layton would take the pickup 12 up the mountain in search of another 13 person. He helped one elderly woman flee barefoot 14 hot road surface to reach his car and found a man unconscious in a burning cottage and 15 him to his car. Thankfully, he helped 14 people out of danger despite that he had 16 escaped the burns.
17 his brave and immediate action, the fire didn't 18 a single life on Shields Mountain. And though his business were destroyed, Layton remains 19 “I wasn't worried about the property 20, not when I saw those families trapped on the mountain.” he says, “I knew I was gonna help them.”
