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North of the U.S.-Mexico border, Minnich's research over several decades recorded large splotches of red and orange and yellow, illustrating massive fires that consumed thousands of acres at a time. Directly across the border, the patchwork changes abruptly to a finer mosaic of much smaller fires.

"Before fire suppression became popular in the 19th century, we had the same mosaic," Minnich said. "In Baja, fires occur by chance and in normal conditions, and they burn themselves out. The Santa Anas do not stop when they cross the border. Fire strategy changes, that's all."

Geologist Kelly Bovard, who helped record Southern California landslides and debris flows for a USGS aerial mapping project based in Riverside, showed images from Bluebird Canyon in Laguna Beach and La Conchita on the coast north of Ventura to illustrate how disasters can strike repeatedly in the same place.

Bovard also showed debris flows in San Timoteo Canyon, Wrightwood and Forest Falls, including a July 1999 debris avalanche that killed a woman and leveled several homes. Bovard said she and other specialists estimated the avalanche was moving at speeds up to 80 mph.

"Forest Falls is probably one of the most dangerous places in the state to live," Bovard told planners. "There is a single road that goes into and out of that (town). It is right next to an active strand of the San Andreas fault. The whole city is built on debris flows."

Afterward, Bovard said planners in Southern California and other parts of the state need to know debris flows can happen any time there's a hard rain not just after fires.

"Debris flows are going to be a problem in the future and the near future," Bovard said. "A place like Forest Falls is already there. Sometimes you can't fix what's already been done. But you can learn from that for future planning."

Planning Commissioner Betty Woo from Yolo County near Sacramento said the hazard workshops chaired by San Bernardino County-area experts are especially relevant to land-use planners statewide.

"We have all these threats fires, floods, slides and our Coastal Range looks exactly like the pictures from San Bernardino County," Woo said. "We as planners have to make a difference. We can save lives in land-use planning by deciding where people live and where they can't live. It's a matter of public safety.

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