LOS ANGELES − As Los Angeles enters its sixth day as the epicenter of fire, residents whose lives have been torn asunder by the blazes have called to the better angels of the nation for help. The six fires have killed at least 16 people and sent over 100,

As of January 14, the city's average temperature of 55°F was 3.5°F below the five-year average, a deviation of nearly 6 percent.

T here are a lot of variables at play in the catastrophic wildfires currently clawing through southern California: dry vegetation, lack of rain, dense housing development, errant