As autumn returned and the mercury hovered in the 90s in the Oakland hills, Milt Brown started to feel anxious.
Twenty years ago, on a scorching, wind-whipped day, he lost two houses in one of the nation's deadliest and most destructive urban wildfires, an inferno that jumped two freeways, destroyed more than 3,800 homes and killed 25 people, including the Browns' former baby sitter.
Although he tries not to dwell on the horrible memories -- or the chance of another devastating blaze -- Brown and other survivors of the Oakland hills fire worry that the painful lessons of that day are being forgotten. Or worse, they are being ignored by the many newer residents who didn't experience firsthand the hell of Oct. 20, 1991. Even the subtlest signs of danger make him nervous.
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