Barks' "Vacation Time" story

[Larry Giver]

      Does anyone know how Barks came up with the idea for Donald and HDL
to bury themselves (pages 27-28) before the forest fire reaches them?
It's interesting that Dewey suggested they get in the creek's water (page 25,
panel 7) to escape the fire, but Huey thought the water would get too hot,
and they would "be boiled like eggs".
      This story predates HDL joining the Junior Woodchucks, so they can't
consult the guidebook, or do any quick calculations to determine if the
water would indeed get too hot to survive during the fire, as they could in
later stories.  Dewey thought it was a good idea, but Huey didn't;
both just had conflicting ideas of their own, and they had to defer to
Donald's judgement.  I expect that after surviving the fire being "nearly
steamed away" underground (page 29, panel 5), Dewey must have
stopped at the creek to see how hot the water got, and if his idea would
have been a better plan.
      Now what's the better idea in real life?  Here in the San Francisco Bay
area of California, about 10 years ago the huge Oakland Hills fire
destroyed about 3000 houses and apartments.  Most people escaped the
area of the fire; some of the people trapped in the area of the fire saved
themselves uninjured by getting in a swimming pool while houses, trees,
and buildings burned up around them.  Lots of these houses and
apartment groups had swimming pools.  The water didn't heat up
significantly.  I didn't read any news reports of anyone burying himself
to survive the fire.
				------------Larry Giver.