WEBVTT - Daily Variety -- How Misinformation Has Complicated L.A.'s Recovery From 2025's Firestorm

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose of news and

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<v Speaker 1>analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Wednesday, January seventh, twenty

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<v Speaker 1>twenty six. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton. I am co

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<v Speaker 1>editor in chief of Riety alongside Ramin Setuda. I'm in LA.

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<v Speaker 1>He's in New York and bridy as reporters around the

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<v Speaker 1>world covering the business of entertainment. In today's episode, we'll

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<v Speaker 1>hear from Jacob Soberoff, the NBC News and MS Now correspondent.

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<v Speaker 1>He's written a book about the firestorm that devastated the

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<v Speaker 1>Los Angeles area starting one year ago. Today, he'll unpacked

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<v Speaker 1>his emotional journey of covering the incineration of his hometown

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<v Speaker 1>of Pacific Palisades. But before we hear from Soberoff, here

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<v Speaker 1>are a few headlines just in this morning that you

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<v Speaker 1>need to know. The board of Warner Brothers Discovery delivered

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<v Speaker 1>a blunt message to Paramounts Guidance early this morning. We're

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<v Speaker 1>just not that into you, but we are into Netflix.

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<v Speaker 1>As expected, Paramount's latest offer to buy Warner Brothers Discovery

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<v Speaker 1>has been rejected. Paramount is still trying to court Warner

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<v Speaker 1>Brothers shareholders with its existing tender offer to scoop up

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<v Speaker 1>shares that expires on January twenty first, we'll keep watching

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<v Speaker 1>this ping pong match between Melrose Avenue and Burbank. Fox

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<v Speaker 1>is leaning hard into creators. It's launched Fox Creator Studios

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<v Speaker 1>to nurture next generation content ideas from social media superstars.

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<v Speaker 1>This is one more effort to marry the power of

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<v Speaker 1>digital communities with the mainstream reach of TV. They're starting

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<v Speaker 1>with the focus on food, and they've signed deals with

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<v Speaker 1>a bunch of top stars in that realm. It's a

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<v Speaker 1>big push for Fox Entertainment CEO Rob Wade. Here Comes

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<v Speaker 1>Beef season two. Netflix has set April sixteenth as the

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<v Speaker 1>debut date for the next installment of the anthology series

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<v Speaker 1>about people having really Bad Days. The next edition stars

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<v Speaker 1>Charles Melton, Kaylee Speeney, Carrie mu and oscar Isaac. All

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<v Speaker 1>of these stories and so much more can be found

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<v Speaker 1>on Variety dot com right now and now it's time

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<v Speaker 1>for conversations with industry leaders about news and trends in

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<v Speaker 1>show business today, as we mark the somber anniversary of

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<v Speaker 1>the Los Angeles fires, we'll hear from someone who was

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<v Speaker 1>deeply affected by this tragedy. Jacob Soberoff, your political and

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<v Speaker 1>national correspondent for MS NOW, saw his hometown ravaged by

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<v Speaker 1>one of the worst fire disasters in US history. It

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<v Speaker 1>was cathartic for him to chronicle what happened in his

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<v Speaker 1>new book, Firestorm, the Great Los Angeles Fires and America's

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<v Speaker 1>New Age of Disaster. Jacob Soberoff, thank you so much

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<v Speaker 1>for joining me, and congratulations on the publication of your book.

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<v Speaker 2>Cynthia, Thanks so much for having me. It means a lot.

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<v Speaker 1>I have not had a chance to read it yet,

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<v Speaker 1>but I'm very much looking forward to it. But your

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<v Speaker 1>book title is Firestorm, the Great Los Angeles Fires and

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<v Speaker 1>America's New Age of Disaster, and I want to start

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<v Speaker 1>by talking about the second half of that. But what

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<v Speaker 1>in the reporting of this were some of the things

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<v Speaker 1>that surprised you about what you describe as America's New

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<v Speaker 1>Age of Disaster.

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<v Speaker 2>I ended up covering the carbonization destruction, incineration of my

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<v Speaker 2>childhood home and my childhood hometown and watching it happen

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<v Speaker 2>in real time with my own eyes, and I couldn't

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<v Speaker 2>comprehend at the time exactly what I was witnessing. And

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<v Speaker 2>I think what I have come to learn in writing

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<v Speaker 2>this book and spending the better part of twenty twenty

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<v Speaker 2>five diving deep into the experience that I had and

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<v Speaker 2>reflecting on it and reporting it out, is that in

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<v Speaker 2>some measure it was the fire of the future. And

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<v Speaker 2>so when I say America's New Age of disaster to me,

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<v Speaker 2>it also is synonymous with the fact that I experienced.

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<v Speaker 2>What one senior career emergency management official who has spanned

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<v Speaker 2>Democratic and Republican administration said to me was something not

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<v Speaker 2>only that was a look obviously into my past, at

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<v Speaker 2>my childhood, but also into my own children's future. And

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<v Speaker 2>so what the new Age of disaster is and what

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<v Speaker 2>the fire of the future is is a conflagration excuse

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<v Speaker 2>the term of several things. There is not one proximate

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<v Speaker 2>cause to natural disasters like the one we experienced in

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<v Speaker 2>La the costiest wildfire event in American history, and in

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<v Speaker 2>this case with the Great Los Angeles Fires, it was

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<v Speaker 2>obviously the global climate emergency, as when you read the

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<v Speaker 2>book you'll see Captain Jonathan White explained to me. But

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<v Speaker 2>it's also the degradation of our infrastructure. It's also changes

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<v Speaker 2>in the way we live. You know, I went back

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<v Speaker 2>and listened to a lot of audio and watch video

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<v Speaker 2>of my reporting and heard electric car batteries exploding all

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<v Speaker 2>around us. And I think maybe most importantly, it is

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<v Speaker 2>the misinformation and disinformation the charge political moment that we're

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<v Speaker 2>living in that makes the recovery of and from events

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<v Speaker 2>like this all the more difficult and actually all the

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<v Speaker 2>more painful. Instead of the opposite, which is what I

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<v Speaker 2>think we all expect.

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<v Speaker 1>Is there such dispute over the basic facts of what

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<v Speaker 1>happened exactly. We even saw that writ large on of

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<v Speaker 1>all things, the Rose Parade this here. That was a

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<v Speaker 1>neon sign as to how raw and how difficult this is.

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<v Speaker 1>In doing all of this investigative reporting, with incredible sourcing

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<v Speaker 1>that you have, did you find things that helped you

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<v Speaker 1>understand where that infrastructure and that shared set of understanding

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<v Speaker 1>is just breaking down.

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<v Speaker 2>What you'll see in the book, in particular, is the

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<v Speaker 2>relationship completely falling apart between Gavin Newsom, who was the

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<v Speaker 2>governor of California, and actually Donald Trump, the president elect

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<v Speaker 2>at the time. Joe Biden, a lot of people might forget,

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<v Speaker 2>was actually here in la in southern California when the

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<v Speaker 2>fires broke out. He was going down to the Coachella

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<v Speaker 2>Valley and the Chuckwalla National Monument to dedicate the final

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<v Speaker 2>national monument of his presidency in Gavin Newsom, as you

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<v Speaker 2>will see, was literally on his way driving there, getting

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<v Speaker 2>ready to meet Joe Biden, and their relationship actually, interestingly

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<v Speaker 2>was critical to the major disaster declaration being declared almost

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<v Speaker 2>immediately because the two of them were in person together

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<v Speaker 2>and the President of the United States was here, but

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<v Speaker 2>Donald Trump almost inexplicably by But I guess may sound

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<v Speaker 2>foolish saying that now anybody that watches this President injected

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<v Speaker 2>himself from the moment that the fires started and started

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<v Speaker 2>sowing the seeds of misinformation and disinformation about who was

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<v Speaker 2>to blame, about whether one person could be to blame

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<v Speaker 2>for something like this, And of course he blamed a

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<v Speaker 2>newscum and Mayor Karen Bass, but also pointed a finger

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<v Speaker 2>at the water supply, saying that there was some magical,

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<v Speaker 2>mystical source of water from the Pacific Northwest to could

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<v Speaker 2>quote unquote flow down with a tap that would open

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<v Speaker 2>and it would have stopped the fires or prevented them

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<v Speaker 2>from happening in the first place. I'm not absolving local

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<v Speaker 2>political leaders at all. Gavin Newsom promised me when I

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<v Speaker 2>interviewed him for Meet the Press, a Marshall Plan two

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<v Speaker 2>point zero for Los Angeles. I haven't seen that materialize.

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<v Speaker 2>Karen Bass, of course, was in Ghana on that presidential delegation,

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<v Speaker 2>and there are lots of questions about what could have

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<v Speaker 2>been done differently operationally, whether it's deploying firefighters to different

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<v Speaker 2>places in the Palisades or taking down those big steel

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<v Speaker 2>lattice towers in Altadena that were inactive but that were

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<v Speaker 2>the source of the eaton fire. All of that there

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<v Speaker 2>is right for decades, frankly, of investigative journalism that's happening

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<v Speaker 2>from our colleagues in the local media and Los Angeles.

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<v Speaker 2>But what this book will show you is that, in

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<v Speaker 2>real time, minute to minute, what it was like to

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<v Speaker 2>be there, and what it was like to feel elon

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<v Speaker 2>Musk by the way down at Zooma Beach talking to firefighters,

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<v Speaker 2>pressing them on a live stream, and Gavin Newsom watching

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<v Speaker 2>and having to respond in real time, what it was

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<v Speaker 2>like for residents to experience this confusion about information, where

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<v Speaker 2>it was coming from and what the source of it was,

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<v Speaker 2>and how to even figure out when and how to evacuate.

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<v Speaker 2>I think all of it combined sowed the seeds for

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<v Speaker 2>the travesty that we all experienced together collectively and the

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<v Speaker 2>trauma they think that we're all trying to still recover from,

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<v Speaker 2>which is again part of the reason I wanted to

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<v Speaker 2>do this is I've never had to process a story

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<v Speaker 2>I have personally covered in the way that I had

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<v Speaker 2>to cover this one, and so for me it's as

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<v Speaker 2>cathartic as I hope it might be for people reading

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<v Speaker 2>it in Los Angeles and around the world to want

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<v Speaker 2>to learn about this event and what it really meant

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<v Speaker 2>to the people, in my opinion, the greatest city in

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<v Speaker 2>the world.

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<v Speaker 1>I remember talking to emergency people saying, this was a

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<v Speaker 1>hurricane with fire. We can debate all the things that

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<v Speaker 1>maybe went wrong, but at some point on the seventh

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<v Speaker 1>than the eighth, there was no helicopter that was going

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<v Speaker 1>to be able, Like there was just no There was

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<v Speaker 1>just no getting around this. Being your hometown, it might

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<v Speaker 1>have been hard to sort of hear critical things, But

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<v Speaker 1>I remember in the moment talking about people looking and saying, Wow,

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<v Speaker 1>maybe there should have been more accessibility. Maybe we should

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<v Speaker 1>have insisted on more easier ways to get out of

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<v Speaker 1>that central court of the Palisades that was so devastated. Yeah,

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<v Speaker 1>it was that hard to hear.

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<v Speaker 2>About because I think that it's obvious to me that

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<v Speaker 2>we all live in the wildland urban interfaces in LA

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<v Speaker 2>and I think what you mentioned just brings two things

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<v Speaker 2>to mind for me. One is, I can't wait for

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<v Speaker 2>people to read the scenes in the book about LA

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<v Speaker 2>Fire Department air support having to figure out that they

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<v Speaker 2>had to ground themselves. This is not something that anybody

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<v Speaker 2>that is in that line of work. And by the way,

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<v Speaker 2>in the LA Fire Department, they were all once firefighters

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<v Speaker 2>in addition to now being pilots anything that they take lightly,

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<v Speaker 2>and so the decision to ground those choppers really does

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<v Speaker 2>show the severity of the conditions at the time, and

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<v Speaker 2>then as it relates to the building materials and the

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<v Speaker 2>fact that we all in some way put ourselves in

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<v Speaker 2>harms way that's not new. In the nineteen sixties, when

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<v Speaker 2>after the Bell Air Fire, the LA Fire Department produced

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<v Speaker 2>a documentary called Design for Disaster, and it literally talked

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<v Speaker 2>about how the ways in which we live in Los

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<v Speaker 2>Angeles are primed to make us all victims of massive

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<v Speaker 2>wildfire events like happened in the sixties and happened again

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<v Speaker 2>in early January of twenty twenty five, and so now

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<v Speaker 2>I think it's more acute and more sort of obvious

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<v Speaker 2>than effort to everybody. The question is when we come back.

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<v Speaker 2>If we come back, and there are big questions about that,

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<v Speaker 2>how do you build back?

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<v Speaker 1>Is it a.

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<v Speaker 2>Decision that everyone will make To want to live in

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<v Speaker 2>such vulnerable circumstances is part of the paradox of living

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<v Speaker 2>in a place that's as unbelievable and as deadly as

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<v Speaker 2>Mike Davis has told us all about Los Angeles.

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<v Speaker 1>City of Courts.

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<v Speaker 2>That's right.

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<v Speaker 1>Do you think there is the political will to say

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<v Speaker 1>not everybody can rebuild that maybe in these foot hill

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<v Speaker 1>areas that in hindsight, what we know now about our

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<v Speaker 1>modern life that you know, maybe not everybody should rebuild.

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<v Speaker 1>That's going to be a tough thing to say.

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<v Speaker 2>I don't think so. When you read the personal stories

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<v Speaker 2>of the people in the book, whether it's the firefighters

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<v Speaker 2>Tim Larson from These in the palis As or Eric

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<v Speaker 2>Mendoza from sixty nine, it's guys who just literally laid

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<v Speaker 2>on the concrete in the middle of the street because

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<v Speaker 2>it was a thousand plus degree heat and tried to

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<v Speaker 2>save any house that they could and get as close

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<v Speaker 2>as they could to open their hoses as wide as

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<v Speaker 2>they could. Or the people in Altadena I met Kate Hennigan,

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<v Speaker 2>the JPL engineer, or Herbin Lloyd and Wilson who worked

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<v Speaker 2>at UPS and lost their home on McNally Avenue. You

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<v Speaker 2>can't tell FOE firefighters that you're not going to be

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<v Speaker 2>fighting fires in these areas, or residents that you're not

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<v Speaker 2>going to be coming back. These are very personal, deep

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<v Speaker 2>decisions that people are going to make, and I think

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<v Speaker 2>that the idea that politicians would get in the way

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<v Speaker 2>of that at this point, they think that ship has sailed.

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<v Speaker 2>The question is do we now have a different understanding

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<v Speaker 2>of what the Big One might be? In la The

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<v Speaker 2>pages in these book I think will certainly make that

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<v Speaker 2>clear that I think we all expected it to be

0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:05.240
<v Speaker 2>the earthquake that I trained for when I was in

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<v Speaker 2>elementary school and had to get under the table. But

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<v Speaker 2>really I think that we've experienced a form of the

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<v Speaker 2>Big One together already, and so now what do we

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<v Speaker 2>do individually, not just collectively, in terms of being prepared

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<v Speaker 2>for the next one? Because there will be a next one.

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<v Speaker 1>Of course, Hollywood is a big hometown business. I would

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<v Speaker 1>say the hometown business ripple effects. Do you get into

0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:29.120
<v Speaker 1>any of how these fires ampered the entertainment industry amfered.

0:11:29.320 --> 0:11:31.599
<v Speaker 1>One thing we saw, of course, was right afterwards, a

0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:34.200
<v Speaker 1>lot of calls for hate. We need more tax incentive,

0:11:34.240 --> 0:11:37.560
<v Speaker 1>we need more government support to keep industry here, and

0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:39.880
<v Speaker 1>for a moment it seemed like, is there going to

0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.120
<v Speaker 1>be some good that comes out of this for the industry.

0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:44.000
<v Speaker 2>Well, a good point I think often I've said this

0:11:44.040 --> 0:11:47.280
<v Speaker 2>before that big catastrophic events like this, whether they're humanitarian

0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.360
<v Speaker 2>or natural disasters, can kind of expose the fissures or

0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:53.760
<v Speaker 2>what's really going on below the surface in our society,

0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:56.680
<v Speaker 2>And the ones I often think of are that, you know,

0:11:56.679 --> 0:11:59.320
<v Speaker 2>we have more undocumented people who are suffering greatly at

0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.960
<v Speaker 2>the hands of the immigritation policies of this administration while

0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.040
<v Speaker 2>trying to rebuild the city, and also the unhoused almost

0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:08.080
<v Speaker 2>population in La This is a place now that affordability

0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:11.520
<v Speaker 2>will be further exacerbated by the shorter supply of housing

0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.000
<v Speaker 2>and you're already seeing I think something forty percent was

0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.120
<v Speaker 2>the recent study I saw of lots being sold or

0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:18.640
<v Speaker 2>being sold to corporations, not to locals. But you raise

0:12:18.679 --> 0:12:20.960
<v Speaker 2>a great one too, what it meant for the entertainment

0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:23.840
<v Speaker 2>industry and what it meant for our neighbors who work

0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:26.840
<v Speaker 2>in Hollywood and who have been really suffering. I think,

0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:29.520
<v Speaker 2>and perhaps for a moment, it did open the eyes

0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:31.800
<v Speaker 2>to the policymakers that this is a time where we

0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.240
<v Speaker 2>need to incentivize people to continue to come to work

0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:38.880
<v Speaker 2>in southern California and in Los Angeles because of how

0:12:38.960 --> 0:12:41.920
<v Speaker 2>clear it was after the fires, how bad the industry

0:12:42.040 --> 0:12:44.360
<v Speaker 2>was hurting. And I think that that same story can

0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:48.200
<v Speaker 2>sort of be extrapolated as well to the defensive immigrants

0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:50.480
<v Speaker 2>that we're seeing in the city while they're rebuilding, or

0:12:50.520 --> 0:12:54.400
<v Speaker 2>the realization that la is one of the most unaffordable cities,

0:12:54.520 --> 0:12:56.880
<v Speaker 2>not only in the United States but on planet Earth.

0:12:56.960 --> 0:12:59.280
<v Speaker 2>And all of these things are issues that needed to

0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:01.360
<v Speaker 2>be addressed before the fire, but I think in the

0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.440
<v Speaker 2>wake of the fire is sort of crystal clear for

0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:05.400
<v Speaker 2>all of us how acute those issues are.

0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:08.320
<v Speaker 1>Jacob let me close by asking you have you and

0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:12.880
<v Speaker 1>your family found a way to memorialize or just process

0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:14.000
<v Speaker 1>all that you lost.

0:13:14.280 --> 0:13:17.040
<v Speaker 2>There's a physical memorial as far as I'm concerned, and

0:13:17.040 --> 0:13:19.800
<v Speaker 2>you'll read about it in the book. Outside the Recreation Center,

0:13:20.200 --> 0:13:22.360
<v Speaker 2>the building that was built around World War Two in

0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:26.439
<v Speaker 2>the Palisades is a giant bronze plaque about the rebuilding

0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.080
<v Speaker 2>of the park, the Palisades Park in nineteen eighty six

0:13:29.120 --> 0:13:31.480
<v Speaker 2>when I was two going I'm three years old, that

0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:34.840
<v Speaker 2>my dad, and my mom and my four grandparents all

0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.959
<v Speaker 2>participated in the fundraising for after my dad, when I

0:13:38.040 --> 0:13:39.800
<v Speaker 2>was a little kid, hit his head and cut it

0:13:39.840 --> 0:13:44.040
<v Speaker 2>open and decided he wanted to renovate the Palisades playground.

0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:46.719
<v Speaker 2>That plaque still stands, And when I go back there,

0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:48.600
<v Speaker 2>I see the names not just of my mom and dad,

0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:54.480
<v Speaker 2>and my grandpa Irv and Grandma Evelyn and Anita and Myron,

0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:56.880
<v Speaker 2>shirts are my mom's parents, but I see the names

0:13:56.960 --> 0:13:59.560
<v Speaker 2>of so many neighbors, some of whom lost their homes

0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:01.640
<v Speaker 2>in the fire, some of whom hadn't thought about in

0:14:01.640 --> 0:14:03.880
<v Speaker 2>a long time, some of whom are no longer with us.

0:14:04.559 --> 0:14:07.439
<v Speaker 2>But the fact to me, on our very personal level,

0:14:07.440 --> 0:14:09.760
<v Speaker 2>that that plaque still remains, and that that story is

0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:13.400
<v Speaker 2>so central to my I guess Palisades origin story. It's

0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:14.760
<v Speaker 2>where I go every time now, I go back to

0:14:14.800 --> 0:14:17.040
<v Speaker 2>the Palisades because it reminds me of what that place was,

0:14:17.480 --> 0:14:19.120
<v Speaker 2>not just in the days before the fire, because it

0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:21.680
<v Speaker 2>had changed, but what that place means to me. And

0:14:22.280 --> 0:14:24.400
<v Speaker 2>I hope that everybody can find something like that for them,

0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:26.400
<v Speaker 2>because we try to move forward from this, and I

0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:27.840
<v Speaker 2>think that the book hopefully can be that for a

0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:28.360
<v Speaker 2>lot of people.

0:14:28.880 --> 0:14:30.720
<v Speaker 1>I have no doubt that those deep roots are going

0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:32.520
<v Speaker 1>to show through in the pages. I'm very much looking

0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.160
<v Speaker 1>forward to reading it. Jacob. Thank you for your work,

0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:36.280
<v Speaker 1>and thank you for your time.

0:14:36.400 --> 0:14:37.320
<v Speaker 2>Thank you always, Santa.

0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.520
<v Speaker 1>As we close out today's episode, here's a few things

0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.800
<v Speaker 1>we're watching for. Two big TV shows return on Thursday night.

0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:51.880
<v Speaker 1>The Pit begins its second shift on HBO Max. The

0:14:51.960 --> 0:14:56.160
<v Speaker 1>Traders begin Treachery anew on Peacock. Of course, Sunday is

0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:59.280
<v Speaker 1>the Golden Globe Awards. My colleague Michael Schneider has a

0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:01.920
<v Speaker 1>good interview with with host Nicki Glazer that you can

0:15:01.960 --> 0:15:04.960
<v Speaker 1>find on Variety dot com. Right now, before we go,

0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.960
<v Speaker 1>congrats to Adrian O'Hara. She's been named executive vice president

0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.880
<v Speaker 1>and chief Communications Officer for Discovery Global. That's the planned

0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:16.840
<v Speaker 1>spin off of CNN, TNT, and other Warner Brothers Discovery

0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:19.960
<v Speaker 1>cable channels. She comes to the company after working in

0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:24.080
<v Speaker 1>communications for Gap Inc. And Old Navy. Thanks for listening.

0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.960
<v Speaker 1>This episode was written and reported by me Cynthia Littleton.

0:15:28.120 --> 0:15:31.160
<v Speaker 1>Stick Snack's hick Picks. Please leave us a review at

0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:33.960
<v Speaker 1>the podcast platform of your choice, and please tune in

0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.840
<v Speaker 1>tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety.