Thank you for your concern. You have a fabulous memory. Even after 2 or 3 rains, we still get soot (ash) on our porch and sidewalks which gets tracked into the house.
I think the authorites nabbed a couple of the arsonists, but the fires spread so far and so fast that nobody knows the origins for sure. It was deadly and the back country looks like something from a science fiction movie set... barren, blackened and burnt.