I used to live one hillside over from where they finally got this fire under control: 20 Years Later: The Old Topanga Fire. The last night, we had fire trucks lining the streets in and out of there, and hot embers were everywhere in the air. For a while I stood on the roof with a water hose to keep the roof from catching fire. We had the cars loaded to make a quick evacuation, but luckily didn’t have to. It was terrifying.