the first to parachute in was veteran firefighter don mackey.ording to protocol, that was enough to make him team leader. however, mackey was confused. should he be in charge or should the local fire chief call the shots? >> and don mackey says to the man he's with, by the way, kevin, who's in charge here? >> reporter: the professor points to that conversation as an example of ambiguity of leadership, that confusion that would set off a cascade of missteps. for example, no lookout was posted to check on the fire's spread, no one assigned to check weather reports to see if conditions had changed. no one knew they were, in fact, getting worse. he says those are decisions that should have been made. mackey didn't make them. the most important decision mackey did make carried huge risks. even today, you can see what they did. take a look. this is a fire line they cut. it's a thick path to contain the spread of the fire. mackey tells his crew to make the cut up the mountain above the flames. it's a flawed strategy. that means if the fire spreads, the