I am pretty sure that my first assignment upon arrival on the scene on the night of Jan. 17, 1995, was to report on the fires that had broken out.

Eerie orange flames were shooting up from houses that were being consumed whole.

There were no police officers or firefighters stopping me from approaching the burning structures.

Like mute shadows, people were going this way and that in silent panic.

Those are some of the many scenes that came into my sight that night.

At the time, I was a freshman reporter who’d just learned to write short, routine articles. I remember feeling overwhelmed by........

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