Disaster tests any community. But for fledgling Malibu, incorporated in 1991, last year’s firestorm ranks as perhaps the city’s defining event.
More than a year has passed since flames destroyed 270 houses, stripped the rugged hillsides of vegetation and changed the face of this seaside community of 11,730 residents, many of whom came to Malibu for privacy and scenic beauty.
The city government, which was still in the process of getting its municipal legs when the disaster hit, also was altered by the fire.
Some proclaim the fire as the city’s coming of age.