But it is literally the difference between life and death for people caught in a high-rise fire.

Indeed, most callers were told to wait, the standard advice in ordinary high-rise fires.

We've fought many high-rise fires in that area over the years.

And I can tell you, a high-rise fire of this magnitude is our worst nightmare.

It's a credit to our city and its firefighters that we've never had a high-rise fire that involved many floors.

Officials called it the worst high-rise fire in Los Angeles history.

From the earliest moments of the crisis, the 911 operators turned to the standard script used during high-rise fires.

In the meantime, he added, the city would do all it could to head off future high-rise fires.

Others said the collapse had upended their assumptions about the dangers of fighting a high-rise fire.

A third area under review is the department's strategy for fighting high-rise fires in the light of the deadly collapses.