When Jacob Soboroff stood in front of the camera reporting from Pacific Palisades as flames consumed his childhood neighborhood, he experienced something few journalists ever face: covering a disaster that was simultaneously destroying his own past and threatening his children’s future.
“Every aspect of my childhood flashed before my eyes, and, while I’m not sure I understood it as I stared into the camera…I saw my children’s future, too, or at least some version of it,” Soboroff writes in his new book “Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster.”
Now, one year after the fires that devastated Pacific Palisades and Altadena, the award-winning national correspondent for NBC News and MSNBC returns to the region for a public discussion and book signing at Vroman’s Bookstore.
The event carries particular resonance for Pasadena-area residents still processing the trauma of the Eaton Fire. Vroman’s describes “Firestorm” as “the story of the costliest wildfire in American history, the people it affected and the deeply personal connection to one journalist covering it.”
The Pacific Palisades native spent relentless weeks covering the Palisades and subsequent Eaton wildfires. His brother evacuated during the Palisades Fire, positioning the journalist as both affected resident and professional documenter.
“For me, this book became an incredible cathartic opportunity to connect with people I might never have engaged with otherwise,” Soboroff told NPR.
Jacob Soboroff discusses & signs Firestorm: The Great Los Angeles Fires and America’s New Age of Disaster will run on Thursday, Feb. 12 at 7 p.m. Vroman’s Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. For more information, call (626) 449-5320 or visit https://vromansbookstore.com/event/2026-02-12/jacob-soboroff.
