A few years ago, before joining IREI, I lived in the coastal mountains of Southern California in Silverado Canyon, a small mining town that extends into Cleveland National Forest. In October 2007, an arsonist started a fire near our home. At first we thought we were safely out of the fire’s reach, but we soon decided to evacuate. We packed up the pets and all of the irreplaceable keepsakes we could fit into our car and left.