A Los Angeles Times Orange County Special Report : Together in Crisis: Orange County Put to the Test

Everyone knows it. Out there in the chaparral more is hiding than rabbits and mice. Fire is out there, and sooner or later it awakens, stands up and charges. Then we pay the price for the beauty of living near a wilderness. But never before in Orange County has the price been so steep. At its height, the flames swallowed whole neighborhoods and left veteran firefighters awe-struck. Laguna Beach virtually became a ghost town, emptied of its people, defended mainly by hope. Persistence eventually defeats wildfires. You outlast the wind, then you get help, give help, send help and help yourself. Then the scars, which will always be there, begin to fade. Here is a photographic scrapbook of a week Orange County will never forget.