In the era of megadisasters,language fails us. We reach for an adjective—the worst storm, the deadliest flood, the largest wildfire—but even the superlatives come up short. What words, after all, can convey the scale and ferocity of the fires that devastated two very different Los Angeles communities one year ago? The lead-up to Southern California’s winter had been the driest on record. The Santa Ana winds were topping out at nearly 100 miles an hour.