Todays paper had a sympathetic article on the individualists, scattered all over the region of rruination, who stayed to battle the fire on their own property despite direct orders to evacuate. The Fire Marshals were sympathetic to such passion int he protection of home and land, and pointed out that it is not a crime to disobey an evac order. There were dozens of these people, some with garden hoses and some with fire hoses, who came much closer tot he brink of personal disaster than any of us in the safe regions of the county, and put thie rlives on the line to save their homes and succeeded. Only one person -- the first known victim of the Harris fire -- was killed as a result of trying to save his hom ein Potrero.

A