“We knew we had to prepare because it had already happened in 2008,” Hurst said.

The winds ultimately blew in a favorable direction: up the mountain, not down into town, as the Sayre fire had done in November 2008, destroying nearly 500 homes in the Oakridge Mobile Home Park where they live.

But on Sunday afternoon, people in Oakridge were still restless even though they were no longer under an evacuation order.

Luck and firefighting had spared them the kind of losses some residents were all too familiar with. But with winds expected to pick up again this week, they were still on high alert and putting their anxious energy into action.

Vanessa Simon was at home on Sunday afternoon, talking on the phone and wondering what to do with the U-Haul box truck parked in front of the house. Oakridge residents had filled it with clothing, car seats, diapers, blankets, food and other items for the fire victims. Ms. Simon, 47, and her husband called churches, shelters and other places that could accept the goods.

Residents had gathered in Oakridge’s community room to collect and sort through the mass of donations – and cope with a busy week.

“Everyone who was there just came together so beautifully,” Ms. Simon said. “We hugged each other; We cried.”

On Sunday, the sky was blue over Sylmar, a predominantly Hispanic, working-class suburb of about 80,000 residents, many of whom keep horses.

Under the bright sun, there were new reminders that the community was on the front lines of the Los Angeles disaster.

Patches of burned vegetation ended disturbingly close to backyard fences. Large stripes of red fire retardant painted the mountainside behind Rancho Cascades, another Sylmar neighborhood.

Fire safety has long been a local priority, said Kurt Cabrera-Miller, president of the Sylmar Neighborhood Council. Sylmar only has one fire station and is pushing for more. In 2023, the Los Angeles City Council approved a second station, which has yet to be built. Santa Monica and Burbank, communities with comparable populations, have five and six stations, respectively, Cabrera-Miller said.

Perhaps no place in Sylmar is better attuned to danger than Oakridge. When Hope Watterson, 62, moved to the park, she received an emergency package with a picture of a burning RV.

Ms. Watterson, an elementary school teacher, could see the flames from her porch on Tuesday evening. She jumped into her car to join the frantic evacuation via a route that had recently been added. When Oakridge was destroyed in 2008, there was only one way out.

Mr. Ward, who lives a few blocks from Ms. Watterson, was sitting in a rocking chair on his porch Sunday when his neighbor Sebastian Aguayo pulled into the driveway across the street.

Mr. Aguayo, 19, the man who knocked on Mr. Ward’s door on Tuesday, came over to say hello. It was a normal neighborly exchange, but both knew that circumstances could change.

Mr. Ward still had his valuables packed and ready to leave, as did Mr. Aguayo.