Looking back at the fire headlines of the past year.
Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego became a temporary shelter for more than 20,000 displaced and disheveled civilians, some living in tents in the parking lot outside. High schools and fairgrounds also opened their doors to receive the stranded. More than 2,000 homes were destroyed. The punishing flames blackened more than 400,000 acres of dry vegetation and forest while exhausting moisture from the ground. Entire neighborhoods were burned. Many major highways were shut down. Businesses and schools closed. It was nothing short of a horrendous natural catastrophe.