Harrowing footage from NBC Nightly News Wednesday captured one of its correspondents, Jacob Soboroff, visiting his childhood home in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Pacific Palisades, only to find it devastated by a recent wildfire.
In the segment, Soboroff drives through the neighborhood surveying the wreckage under a grey-stained sky, saying that he’s “never seen anything like this” and that the “whole town is gone.”
“I look around the town, the neighborhood, the place that I grew up in,” Soboroff says. “I talk to my friends, who I spent so much time with on these streets, and it’s hard to imagine what comes next and what happens next.”
The correspondent pointed out the wreckage of different community staples, like the area’s public library, which he called the “pride of the community.” A small fire was still burning inside the structure as he drove past.
Upon reaching his childhood home, Soboroff stood speechless and FaceTimed his mother, who also couldn’t believe what she was seeing before her.
“It makes me sad, too,” Soboroff tells his mother. “This was a very special place for the Soboroff family, and I’m very sorry to see it go.”
A Cal Fire firefighter told Soboroff that Tuesday’s wildfire is the “most devastating fire” he’s seen in 26 years working in the field. The correspondent added that “not a single house” was left standing on a stretch of the city’s iconic Sunset Boulevard.
According to the Los Angeles Times, more than 1,100 homes, businesses, and buildings have burned down in Los Angeles County. At least five people have died as the fires continue to scorch across the area, authorities said.
A new fire also erupted Wednesday night in the Hollywood Hills.
The Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation has issued an emergency funding alert and is currently accepting donations online. The Los Angeles Times has also published a list of local grassroots organizations helping those on the ground.
