Lay of the Land:

Neighborhood

The neighborhoods of Topanga are dictated by the terrain and the character of the roads. That means they are of all different shapes and sizes--from compact groups of a few houses to dozens scattered along canyon bottoms.

Steep hills and sharp curves characterize most of the roads, even the main Topanga Canyon Boulevard or Old Topanga Canyon Road. Topanga is not easy driving at best. Under stress, with many vehicles trying to move quickly in both directions, and with poor visibility on top of the steepness and narrowness common to most roads, accidents are all but inevitable. Some of our neighborhoods could become dangerous traps.

Some neighborhoods have only one exit road, and a narrow one at that. There are two things you want from a neighborhood--more than one means of escape and help from your neighbors in an emergency. The more restricted your exit, the more important it is that you look to making it safe to stay. If that's not possible, then you have to accept the implication--to leave early.

Even in the very worst case, however, all parts of Topanga are unlikely to be threatened by the same fire. In nearly all likely cases the majority of Topanga will not be threatened and the best thing for most people to do will be to remain calm and at home, plugged into the T-CEP communication net via their own radios or a communications contact in their neighborhood. We have much more to say about communications later. By all means listen to one of the news radio or TV stations. Undoubtedly the TV stations will be giving wall-to-wall coverage of the fire. However experience suggests much of what they say will be, if not wrong, then not entirely accurate.