ICONS

Those scouring the rubble for phoenix-like metaphors in Los Angeles need look no further than the palm tree. The frightening, fire-filled days a month ago did not leave the city’s fauna unsinged. The Los Angeles Fire Department says numerous trees were torched, but apprehending the perpetrators is obviously “low priority.”

But the news at the roots level isn’t all bad. “We’ve been right on top of this thing all along,” says Bob Kennedy, L.A.’s street tree supervisor. Only 40 city trees were deemed destroyed, his department’s damage report says. “And these,” Kennedy says, “should be replaced within three weeks.” Kennedy reports that, happily, most of the torched palms survived the ordeal. “Palms will survive fires,” he explains. “You can burn almost the whole tree and it still grows back.”