Who and What is T-CEP? The Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness (T-CEP) is an all-volunteer, tax-exempt, public education organization that was created in the aftermath of the 1993 Topanga Canyon fire and the 1994 Northridge earthquake. It became clear that our unincorporated community needed to be better prepared to take care of itself after a major emergency. The same lesson had been learned after every previous major disaster. The resulting efforts, however, tended to fade away after several months. The people who formed T-CEP were determined that this history would not be repeated. After the 1993 fire, officials at every level, from Los Angeles County to Washington, DC, broadcast a low-key but direct message--people who chose to live in hazardous areas would have to accept a greater share of the risk and cost of their protection. Before the Glendale-La Cañada fire of December 1999 was even contained, the Los Angeles Times was reporting rumblings about zoning changes to prevent building in high fire hazard areas. Since the mid-1980s the concepts of the Wildland/ Urban Interface and Wildland/Urban Intermix have evolved to describe areas such as Topanga. The word "Interface" implies a distinct border between the wildland on one side, and built-up areas on the other. The Interface describes areas such as those in Topanga in which homes line the borders of the Topanga State Park. The "Intermix" is a more complex areas in which wildlands and home are mixed together without a clear line between them. This is the normal state in Topanga, either because homes have been built off the road front in the midst of trees and brush or because, over time, trees and wild and cultivated plants have grown up around homes. Whether Interface or Intermix, the problems for residents and firefighters are more complicated and dangerous than they are in the usual suburb. These are the problems this booklet is intended to expose for your consideration. T-CEP is an unofficial response to the conflicting pressures of environmental desirability vs. inherent dangers; desire for rural simplicity vs. the rising value attached to privacy and increasingly scarce building sites; official desire to minimize expenditure on emergency services vs. increasing demand by increasingly affluent residents for more of the same. T-CEP cooperates closely with local authorities trying to define the common grounds and boundaries between resident and official concerns. Still, there is much more that can and ought to be done in the area of cooperation among individuals and citizen groups in Topanga. For information, and to participate in the future of your community, please call T-CEP at 310/455-3000 and leave a message, or write to T-CEP, P.O. Box 1708, Topanga, CA 90290. On the Internet go to www.topangamessenger.com or www.topangaonline.com. If the voice in this report is T-CEP's, the voice in the next one should be yours.