Soboroff Releases ‘Firestorm,’ Reexamining the 2025 L.A. Fires as a New Age of Disaster

Overview

• Firestorm was published on January 6 by Mariner Books and draws on Jacob Soboroff’s eyewitness reporting and the loss of his childhood home.
• He reports that the January 2025 infernos destroyed thousands of structures across Pacific Palisades, Malibu and Altadena, with coverage citing 30 deaths and over 100,000 people displaced.
• The account frames the catastrophe as climate-driven risk compounded by degraded infrastructure and modern hazards, including reports of exploding electric-vehicle batteries.
• Operational constraints feature prominently, including Los Angeles Fire Department air support grounding due to extreme and unsafe conditions.
• Soboroff recounts that misinformation from President Donald Trump and Elon Musk sowed confusion, while President Joe Biden’s presence with Governor Gavin Newsom helped expedite a disaster declaration.