As toll mounts from Malibu to Thousand Oaks, how did the Woolsey fire become a monster?
LOS ANGELES - From the start of the destructive Woolsey fire, firefighters were at a number of distinct disadvantages.
The blaze came on the heels of one of the hottest summers on record for the region, after years of drought that left the woodlands in the Santa Monica Mountains bone dry. Powerful Santa Ana winds began howling that Thursday afternoon, blowing more and more ferociously as the night went on, which, combined with low visibility from the smoke, limited the reach of aerial attacks.
Crews were already battling a much larger blaze - the Hill fire - that had erupted 21 minutes earlier, about 20 miles away, and firefighters in Northern California who they'd typically rely on for help were dealing with their own disaster in Paradise.
"When it broke, we tried to stop
