A FAMILY'S LIFE AFTER DISASTER From the Ashes

MONIQUE MAREZ LOST EVERYTHING EXCEPT HER THREE DAUGHTERS IN THE FIRES THAT INCINERATED PARTS OF LOS ANGELES. NOW, LIKE SO MANY PEOPLE IN THE WAKE OF WORSENING WEATHER CRISES, THEY ARE FORCED TO PICK UP THE PIECES

- JOHNNY DODD

Moments after Monique Marez spotted the black, billowing plumes of smoke filling the horizon on the morning of Jan. 7 not far from the boutique where she works in Los Angeles's Pacific Palisades neighborhood, she jumped in her car and started racing back to her house, normally just seven minutes away.

She didn't get far before traffic on Sunset Boulevard ground to a halt, and a police officer shouted for her to run toward the ocean. All around, L.A. was burning.