Clad in pajamas, housecoats of nothing at all, residents fled flames and flying debree. “You can’t save everyone,’ said firefighter Orville Wright at the Northridge Meadows complex, where 16 people perished.
Gas lines ruptured and water mains burst, sending geysers of flame and water into the air. “It was a literal war zone,’ said Richard Gold, president of Granada Hills Community Hospital, where a reserve water tank broke, forcing staffers to transfer 50 patients down dark stairwells and set up mattresses in the lobby.
Scared and confused, people of all ethnic backgrounds camped out side by side in parks and emergency shelters. “Today we are all brothers and sisters,’ said Cardinal Roger Mahony.
