Question Everything – Episode Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: Question Everything
Host: Brian Reed
Episode: "When Lies Spread Like Wildfire"
Date: January 8, 2026

This special episode explores the devastating Eaton and Pacific Palisades fires that swept through Los Angeles a year ago, the unprecedented destruction they caused, and the personal and ethical challenges faced by the journalists who covered them. Gathered at the Good Neighbor Bar—now a community hub in fire-ravaged Altadena—four LA-based reporters discuss reporting in their own neighborhoods, navigating trauma, the responsibilities and limits of journalism, environmental fallout, and the role of misinformation in disaster recovery.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Immediate Impact and Community Loss

• Setting & Context: The panel convenes at Good Neighbor Bar in Altadena, in front of a large map detailing destroyed (red), surviving (black), and deadly (black circle/white house) homes after the Eaton Fire. (00:08–01:53)
• The fires killed 31, destroyed over 16,000 buildings, and accrued ~$65 billion in damages—the biggest in U.S. history.
• The bar became a nerve center post-fire, with proprietor Randy Clement coordinating community updates via wine shop delivery software.

Notable Quote:
"This is unbelievable. Almost this entire map is red. This is an entire community nearly wiped off the map." – Leanne Suter [02:08]

2. Journalists as Both Witnesses and Victims

• Personal Stakes: All four journalists (Tony Briscoe – LA Times; Michelle Zacharias – Calo News; Jacob Soboroff – formerly MSNBC, now MSNow; Leanne Suter – ABC 7) directly experienced the fires’ devastation, some losing homes or reporting as their communities burned.
• Processing Trauma:
  • Leanne Suter: "You learn to put up a wall and separate yourself from the story... But this one was different. It was home... the entire community is gone. Just knowing that it was your place, that's what's so hard." [05:12]
  • Jacob Soboroff's childhood home burned, sparking a journey to process grief that became a book. [04:13–12:20]

Memorable Moment:
Jacob describes seeing his childhood home’s ruins and FaceTiming his mother live on air:
"This is the first time that I've seen the house that I grew up in, and I don't really know what to say. ...I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that all of those memories are gone." – Jacob Soboroff [10:08–12:14]

3. Ethics and Human Realities of Reporting

• Boundary-Blurring Roles: Journalists in the fire zones confronted requests to act as go-betweens for desperate residents seeking information about their properties.
  • Michelle Zacharias made the controversial decision to check on individual homes for families:
    "I decided I would go ahead and do that... at the end of the day, I'm a human being before I'm a journalist." [13:38–14:33]
• Live Reporting Consequences:
  • Leanne Suter recounts informing a woman live on air that her complex had burned down. [16:24–17:21]

Notable Quote:
"I felt it was really important to show these people that I wasn't just some journalist coming in to their community to extract a story to get my headline. I was going to be there to be a public servant, as journalists were intended to be." – Michelle Zacharias [17:53]

4. Environmental Dangers and Institutional Failures

• Hidden Hazards:
  • Tony Briscoe uncovered that, for the first time in nearly 20 years, federal authorities (Army Corps of Engineers/FEMA) did not conduct the customary soil testing for toxic contamination after the fires. [21:39–23:05]
  • LA Times journalists conducted their own limited sampling, finding hazardous contamination at 20% of tested properties in Altadena. [24:25–25:29]
• Socioeconomic & Racial Factors:
  • Historically Black and Latino communities, often underinsured and with generational wealth tied to homes, bore disproportionate losses. [26:20–27:19]
  • Vulnerable groups (disabled, elderly, chronically ill) were hardest hit due to inadequate evacuation protocols.

Highlight:
"Old homes really carry unfortunately toxic materials... When it all turns to ash, you're talking about leaded paint... arsenic... It's all suffused within the soil." – Tony Briscoe [21:39]

5. Warning System Breakdowns and Inequality

• Alert System Failures:
  • Many (particularly in minority-dominated West Altadena) never received phone alerts; authorities blamed mapping errors and lack of historic fire risk in those zones. [27:24–27:56]
  • The scale and speed overwhelmed resources—no power, no deputies to go door-to-door, no TV, no alerts.

Notable Quote:
"West Altadena, largely minority, didn't get a single alert... They say the map it was using to send out the alert didn’t include this area because this wasn’t a traditional fire zone." – Leanne Suter [27:24–27:53]

6. The True Death Toll & Long-Term Health

• Health Impacts:
  • Official death toll: 31, but indirect deaths from smoke and airborne toxins likely exceeded 400. [29:34–29:56]
  • Firefighters anticipate and accept long-term cancer and respiratory risks. [30:00]

Memorable Moment:
"I talked to firefighters who during the fire said I'm probably going to get cancer from being in this fire and fighting it, knowing what's burning right now..." – Jacob Soboroff [30:00]

7. Disinformation & the Politics of Disaster

• Narrative Wars:
  • Amid the fires, public figures (President-elect Trump and Elon Musk) spread falsehoods blaming government water management, undermining official information and response. [32:41–34:30]
  • Jacob Soboroff describes being called, unexpectedly, by Katie Miller (Stephen Miller's wife), requesting he check on Miller’s parents' house—even as Musk and Trump publicly spread misinformation. [33:31–34:26]

Notable Quote:
"With the polarized politics that we have, there's an incredible amount of misinformation and disinformation seeping into not only recovery, but the response to the fires in real time." – Jacob Soboroff [34:26]

8. Root Causes and Moving Forward

• Multiple Interlocking Causes:
  • Panelists agree the fires’ devastation is due to climate change, aging infrastructure, development choices, inequality, and media disinformation—there is no single villain or easy answer.
  • The discussion concludes with reflections on the cycle of disaster, memory, and the city’s future.

Quote:
"They want an answer... one bad guy, right? ...And these aren't. These are multi layered as to what's causing this." – Leanne Suter [35:30]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:58] – Visualizing destruction: the color-coded Altadena map
• [03:05] – Firefighters’ health risks and toxic exposure
• [04:13] – Panelist introductions and personal connections
• [05:12] – Leanne Suter on breaking the journalistic wall
• [10:08–12:14] – Jacob Soboroff confronts loss of his childhood home
• [13:38–14:33] – Michelle Zacharias on crossing reporting boundaries to help residents
• [16:24–17:21] – Leanne Suter delivers devastating news live on air
• [21:39–23:05] – Tony Briscoe exposes government lapse in toxic soil testing
• [27:24–27:53] – West Altadena receives no evacuation alerts
• [29:34–29:56] – Indirect death toll from toxins and smoke, up to 400
• [32:41–34:26] – Disinformation: Trump, Musk, and journalists striving for truth
• [35:30–36:50] – Multi-layered causes and the necessity for broad systemic change

Key Takeaways

• The most devastating fires in US history exposed not only infrastructural weaknesses but also stark socio-economic inequalities and government failures.
• Journalists found themselves blurring professional boundaries, acting as community liaisons and sources of urgent, life-and-death information.
• Systemic neglect—lack of alerts, absence of soil testing, and exposure to toxic remnants—disproportionately affected marginalized communities.
• Misinformation during the crisis, amplified by political figures, materially affected public understanding and recovery efforts.
• Healing from disaster requires both chronicling loss and fighting for accountability—work that these journalists continue as the city rebuilds.