[5] On July 21, 2010, Smith was the medical director in a search and rescue operation to find three separate parties of 17 people who were stranded above 13,000 feet near the summit of the Grand Teton during a lightning storm.

The rescue operation continued the next day to retrieve the one person who died after being struck by lightning and falling 3,000 feet.

"It was a monumental test of rescuer skills and stamina, combined with incident command management ability," said Fire Rescue Magazine.

[6] Smith began studying emergency medicine in high school completing his EMT basic training.

He also attended the National Search and Rescue Academy and has served on the American Board of Emergency Medicine since 2005.

A clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine, Smith does IV, suture, intubation workshops.

He worked at military hospitals, led training exercises and taught courses on altitude illness, disaster medicine, lightning and search and mountain rescues to the army.