Remember those who fought the last fire -- and gave their lives

In the middle of a wind-driven firestorm, it's easy to feel that this one is worse than anything before it. But longtime Angelenos -- and veteran firefighters -- remind us that the destruction and death of those autumn fires have always been a part of life in modern Southern California. Over at the LAFD blog, Brian Humphrey wrote a moving tribute to a group of firefighters who died protecting homes from fire more than four decades ago. They have a connection to the latest fires, and Humphrey laments that we don't know their story:

Though off-duty and unable to respond from afar, my personal cellphone rang through the night with calls from reporters seeking "the story". With the initial Incident Command Post for the Sayre Fire listed as El Cariso Park, I politely guided journalists to the site by instinct, asking them but one favor: "Please, tell the story behind the name of El Cariso Park" With the flames too tempting a focus, nary a reporter would ask the question. A question which when answered, would put both meaning and perspective into the Herculean effort of firefighters working the Sayre Wildland Fire.

Veronique de Turenne, who blogged the fires for L.A. Observed, has a view of the fire from Malibu.

--Shelby Grad