Homeowners View Charred Legacy of Nature's Force

When one has lived most of his 85 years on the edge of the sea, said Reeves Templeman, as he surveyed the smoking dirt of Las Flores Canyon, one tends to mark time by remembering each of nature's nasty turns.

Tuesday night, he allowed, nature was bent on making 1993 unforgettable.

"The first house I built here, a fire came along and took the foundation," Templeman said. "The second house I built . . . burned down five years later. But last night? I've seen fires and floods and all the rest. I've never seen something like this."

Today, as fierce winds abated, fires kept…