Torched: How a City Was Left to Burn, and the Olympic Rush to Rebuild L.A.

CBS News correspondent Vigliotti (Before It’s Gone) offers a riveting account of the 2025 Palisades fire and the shocking governmental failures that fueled it. The book opens a day into the disaster, with L.A. mayor Karen Bass and California governor Gavin Newsom apparently more concerned with rebuilding in time for the 2028 Olympics than fighting the still raging inferno, let alone questioning what had caused it. Leaping back in time, the author provides a gripping hour-by-hour recap of the week leading up to the January 7 blaze, portraying it as a perfect storm of incompetence. As dire warnings mounted, Mayor Bass left the country, Emergency Management director Carol Parks seemingly took the weekend off, and fire chief Crowley failed to recall off-duty firefighters, which “could have doubled staffing.” Vigliotti shares his firsthand experiences covering the disaster, from his disbelief at seeing tree-cutters working as the fire already raged (“It’s like they thought they had today to prepare”) to his efforts to save one resident’s stranded dogs. He also juxtaposes the governmental ineptitude and resulting chaos—panicked families fleeing on foot from gridlocked traffic; residents defending their homes with garden hoses while shouting “Where are the firefighters?”—with the foresight and preparedness of businessman Rick Caruso’s private firefighting team, which successfully defended his shopping center. It adds up to a dystopian account of a government’s disregard for the well-being of its people. (May)