VERONICA MCGREGOR, CNN PRODUCER: In the fall of 1993, in the space of one week in Southern California, we had over 20 fires burning that burned down 1,200 homes, caused three deaths, burned 200,000 acres of land and this was, we called it, then, the ring of fire, completely circling Los Angeles. There was a fire burning in Alta Dina. That was the first one. We sent all our resources out to Alta Dina. People were trying to get out of their homes. They were coming down the hillside. Within hours, we got a phone call that a fire had just started in Laguna Beach. And Laguna Beach, also, again, built on the hillsides overlooking the ocean. There was no water pressure. Homes were burning so fast that the fire department had to pull back. They couldn't even get up to all these homes that were burning. And we spent, of course, the next couple of days going between the burned down homes, where residents come back and sift through their rubble and a few residents who came back and burst into tears when they saw that their home was one of the few standing. It is always amazing to see somebody who has just gone through such a disaster like that. And they come back and they find that everything is gone and they are very calmly sifting through the rubble to find a ring, or a watch, or anything they can.
CNN 20: Firestorms in California, October 27, 1993