• There are many competitors for the title of Worst Fire Ever;

• People don't appreciate firefighters enough;

• Preparedness and firefighting keep getting better, but are never quite enough;

• When you refer to the Great Malibu Fire, try to be more specific.

The tape:

December 19, 2004

Bland Role in San Diego Drama Fine With Mayor

During last year's wildfires, as flames raced across the county for nearly a week, [San Diego Mayor Dick] Murphy held multiple news conferences to report the progress of firefighters in saving homes.

Wearing a yellow Fire Department slicker, he was unwavering in his message: It's a dangerous situation, but we have good people working on it.

No one would confuse Murphy with Rudolph Giuliani's commanding performance in the days after the Sept. 11 attacks, but Murphy's steady message of "Don't panic; we'll get through this" was later praised.

December 28, 2003



NIGHT OF FIRE

The deadly Cedar blaze's speed and ferocity repeatedly surprised officials, who were outmatched from the start.

... In Poway, Chief Mark Sanchez had 15 firefighters to protect the city's 49,000 residents.[...]

Sanchez had been lending out men and equipment for days: one engine at the Camp Pendleton fire, one in Rancho Cucamonga and one in San Bernardino. And Sanchez had sent one of his five remaining engines to Country Estates earlier that night.

OPINION » VOTE-O-RAMA Obama the irony man By Walter Russell Mead Obama's overseas tour highlights the paradoxes that benefit his campaign. EDITORIALS|OP-ED|LETTERS				FROM THE BLOGS Opinion L.A. Opinion L.A. The best in Southern California opinion journalism, Monday through Friday Former Timesman finally makes good Sat, July 26, 2008 | 7:08:00 AM PDT At the L.A. Times it often seems that the only kind of colleagues we have are... more » Bit Player By Jon Healey Bit Player Jon Healey on Hollywood's love-hate relationship with technology. A Paramount movie integrated into Sony web programming Fri, July 25, 2008 | 5:32:55 PM PDT This is so meta, I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around it. Today Bebo... more »