I picked up Firestorm because I was riveted and horrified by the 2025 LA fires. I wanted to understand how and why they happened, how the response was handled, and what went wrong. NBC and MSNBC correspondent Jacob Soboroff covered the fires as they destroyed his childhood neighborhood of Pacific Palisades. So he seemed like the perfect person to tell that story.
But this isn’t quite that book. It’s billed as a reported look at America’s new age of disaster, complete with interviews and research. In practice, it’s more like a personal memoir about what it was like to cover the fires. And the two modes never fully click together.
There are glimpses into how coverage assignments work. And interesting to hear what it’s like as a journalist to report on something so close to home. But even that feels thin.
The most compelling material, snippets near the end suggesting city officials could have handled the fires better, gets skimmed over almost entirely. That’s the reporting I came for, and it’s mostly absent.
Good on audio as Soboroff is a strong narrator, but if you’re looking for a deep investigation into what happened and why, this isn’t it. Better suited to LA natives, journalism junkies, or readers who followed the fires closely and want a personal account from inside the coverage.
