Three LA wildfire victims on surviving the horror – and what happened next

After their lives were upended last year, they're finally regaining their footing - but memories of the fires still haunt them

Few among the nearly 10 million people who live in Los Angeles county were left untouched by last year's disastrous firestorm. Driven by strong winds through parched vegetation, multiple fires exploded in quick succession last January, and devoured roughly 16,000 structures on all sides of LA.

Thirty-one lives were lost and thousands more were forever changed. For many, a new chapter of the disaster began to unfold when the flames were extinguished, while the slow road to recovery started to take shape in the year that followed.