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We speak with journalist Jacob Soboroff about his new book and ongoing reporting about the Los Angeles fires one year ago, when destructive infernos razed entire neighborhoods, killing 30 people and displacing over 100,000 more. The book Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster provides a detailed look at how the fires unfolded, the emergency efforts and the political response. Soboroff, who grew up in the area, describes seeing the charred remains of his own childhood home while misinformation from Donald Trump, Elon Musk and other powerful figures was “pouring rhetorical fuel on the flames of the very real fire.”

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.

One year ago today, the historic Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire started in Los Angeles, California, burning a massive path of destruction through the region. More than 30 people died, over 100,000 displaced. Some 16,000 buildings and homes were destroyed.

As the fires burned, then-MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff was on the ground reporting about the neighborhood where he grew up. This is an excerpt from a report he filed after discovering the home he was born in had burned down.

JACOB SOBOROFF: This is the first time that I’ve seen the house that I grew up in, and I don’t really know what to say.

Mom? Look at this.

PATTI SOBOROFF: Is that Frontera?

JACOB SOBOROFF: Yeah.

PATTI SOBOROFF: Our — your birth house?

JACOB SOBOROFF: Yeah.

PATTI SOBOROFF: Oh, I’m so sad. Every one of you guys was born in that house.

JACOB SOBOROFF: I know. It makes me — it makes me sad, too.

This was a really, really special place for the Soboroff family, and I’m very sorry to see it go. And I’m very sorry for all of the residents of Pacific Palisades and everyone across the greater L.A. area that’s going through this right now.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Jacob Soboroff reporting a year ago. As recovery from the fires continues, Jacob joins us now to discuss his new book, Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster. We also had him in to talk about his other book, Separated: Inside an American Tragedy. Jacob is a senior political and national reporter for MS NOW, formerly MSNBC.

Welcome to Democracy Now!

JACOB SOBOROFF: It’s so good to see you, Amy. Thank you.

AMY GOODMAN: It’s great to see you. A year ago today, you were reporting somewhere, and you get a call from your brother.

JACOB SOBOROFF: Yeah. My brother says, “There’s a huge fire in the Palisades.” It was actually on a text thread to our whole family. “We’re evacuating right now.” And he had lived not far from where I grew up for most of my life, up in the Santa Monica Mountains, until I was about 18 years old. They left. The home they lived in ultimately burned down. The childhood home that I lived in had burned down, and was born into.

You know, and I think, as you cover these things in real time, how do you process watching your........

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