Dear Fellow Topangans, The Topanga Town Council expresses our gratitude to you, and to all the fire fighters, police, and other first responders who reminded us, yet again, what immense courage, skill…
Woolsey Chronicles
I have a hundred stories of the Woolsey Fires, but this one is the strangest. Our house on Point Dume in Malibu survived the Woolsey Fire—thanks to neighbors who stayed behind and…
Nature will recover in her own time. Humans will be wise to follow her lead. It took an army of fire fighters more than two weeks to fully contain the Woolsey Fire.…
Topanga was spared from wildfire damage during the Woolsey Fire, but the National Park Service (NPS) estimates that more than 50 percent of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area (SMMNRA) burned,…
Nearly 25 years ago, my husband, Janek, and I moved our large family to Topanga Canyon. Like many newcomers to canyon life, we were clueless about what living in the wildland urban…
Longtime local Marsha Maus lost her Seminole Hot Springs home in the Woolsey Fire, but not her perspective on life. Maus was able to find beauty and wonder in the charred debris…
Topanga Nutcracker through the Eyes of Evacuation For a few months every year, young children, preteens, teenagers, parents, and old friends come together to create the Topanga Nutcracker, and bring to life…
“We’re sorry to report that P-74, the latest mountain lion that we captured as part of our mountain lion study, likely did not survive the Woolsey Fire,” the National Park Service announced.…
The Messenger Mountain News extends an invitation to the communities that experienced the Woolsey Fire to write their First-Person experiences. MMN will chronicle and publish them online where they will be archived for others to learn…
I evacuated late, then snuck back into the Canyon as soon as I could. The day I came back, I woke up really early, stuffed five dogs and two cats in the…