Thanks and Acknowledgments To try to thank individuals for their help in putting together this booklet would only risk doing injustice by leaving some out. Over the past two years most of my conversations--with neighbors, friends, colleagues associated in various ways with T-CEP, and many mystified strangers--have found their way into wildfire, evacuation and decision-making. It hasn't always been easy for them, but they have contributed, even if unwittingly, to the present form of this study. We would, however, like to thank the Los Angeles City and County Fire Departments--organizations which harbor many people who have generously given their time and concrete help. These departments illustrate the primary frustration which has afflicted this study. The budget of our original proposal assumed we would have to pay, e.g., for copying and administrative expenses. But time after time people refused our money. As a result, the project actually cost roughly 60% of its budget. Despite our best efforts, we wound up returning money to the California Community Foundation (CCF). CCF deserves a special vote of thanks. They took a chance on a small, untried organization to complete a project of some complexity, and they worked with us when unexpected delays forced us to restructure the budget. We would be remiss if we did not acknowledge the invaluable help received from many organizations via their web sites, many of which are listed in Appendix B. These include, but are not limited to, the U.S. Forest Service, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), National Park Service, National Fire Protection Agency, University of California Forest Products Laboratory, Wildfire Magazine and the Firewise project. The question, "To evacuate or not to evacuate?" aside, there will be long-term benefits growing out of this project. T-CEP and the Resource Conservation District, with CCF's encouragement, have initiated a study to determine how the large amount of data assembled for this study can be used to help generate educational materials suitable for use in schools, grades K-12, as well as in public education for adults. The data assembled for this study will be made available to Topanga residents either at scheduled times or on request. In addition to the more than 150 items in the bibliography--Appendix C to this study--many more publications concerning safety and preparedness for all kinds of emergencies are available in T-CEP's Emergency Operations Center. Finally, but not least, the computer capabilities created as a result of this study will make it possible for T-CEP to do a better job of responding to emergencies, and will enable us to provide emergency response help to other community organizations. For his encouragement to think about these longer-lasting benefits--and because all rules have exceptions--we would like to thank John Williams, our grant administrator from the CCF, for his help and understanding. Finally, even in this day of computers and word processors, it still takes a person to get the words typeset and edited. Thank you, Bonnie McCourt.