Returning to a Home Consumed by the Wildfires

Summary

Summary of "Returning to a Home Consumed by the Wildfires" The New Yorker Radio Hour, Hosted by David Remnick Release Date: January 28, 2025

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Returning to a Home Consumed by the Wildfires," The New Yorker Radio Hour delves into the harrowing experiences of Dana Goodyear, a staff writer for The New Yorker. Hosted by David Remnick, the episode intertwines Dana’s professional reporting on the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles with her personal tragedy of losing her home to the flames. This poignant narrative offers listeners an intimate glimpse into the intersection of journalism and personal loss amidst a natural catastrophe.

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Dana Goodyear’s Reporting on the Wildfires

Dana Goodyear has been at the forefront of covering the escalating wildfire crisis in California. Her extensive reporting spans various facets of the disaster, including the impact on local communities, the response from emergency services, and the broader environmental implications.

Dana Goodyear: “I need to be seeing things that all the heroic emergency operations people are doing. And I also need to figure out what in the hell is going on at my house because we haven't been able to see it.” [01:50]

Her dedication to documenting the wildfires is not just professional but deeply personal, as she navigates the challenges of reporting on a disaster that has directly affected her life.

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The Personal Tragedy: Losing Her Home

Approximately a week after Dana’s house in the Pacific Palisades was destroyed by wildfires, she attempts to return to her neighborhood to assess the damage and understand the broader impact of the catastrophe.

Dana Goodyear: “I stopped at a command post, basically right underneath my neighborhood at the beach. If you drive up about 1200ft, you're in the Palisades. I knew that I wanted to go back up there and they weren't letting residents in. They had no problem with me going in as a journalist.” [01:04]

This stark contrast between her ability to access the site as a journalist while residents remain excluded underscores the complexities of disaster response and media access.

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Returning to the Burned Home

Dana’s return to her burnt residence is laden with emotional and psychological weight. As she drives through the once-familiar Pacific Coast Highway, the reality of her loss becomes almost unbearable.

Dana Goodyear: “I have an absolute pit in my stomach. I know I am about to see the neighborhood, but this is the road that I drove up every day.” [02:24]

Upon arrival, the neighborhood presents an eerie silence, vastly different from the chaos and emergency activity Dana had previously witnessed.

Dana Goodyear: “There is literally no one anywhere in this neighborhood. It's so strange. It's so quiet. The wind is blowing lightly. The doves are back on the wires behind the house.” [02:18-02:20]

She describes the remnants of her home, highlighting what remains amidst the destruction:

“There's the fireplace that I really loved in our family room with the kind of... I think it's maybe a kiva shape, the sort of almond shape. Half an almond shape. Opening in the fireplace. And the tiles on one side are still there.” [04:20]

Despite the structural devastation, some personal items survived the fire, creating a haunting juxtaposition between preservation and loss.

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Emotional Aftermath and Reflection

As Dana navigates the wreckage of her home, she grapples with the profound loss of her possessions and the life she once knew. Her detailed observations reveal not just the physical destruction but also the symbolic unraveling of her personal narrative.

Dana Goodyear: “Our world was really little tiny pieces of metal holding it together.” [07:23]

The disintegration of her house serves as a metaphor for the fragility of life and the precariousness of the structures we build around ourselves.

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A Glimmer of Hope: Finding Her Ring

Amidst the devastation, a moment of unexpected solace occurs when Dana discovers her wedding ring, symbolizing resilience and hope amidst tragedy.

Dana Goodyear: “We started sifting through the dust using the piece of metal that had held the top of one of the files... and found the stone from my engagement ring.” [13:23]

The emotional significance of this discovery is profound:

Dana Goodyear: “It feels like crises, they either strengthen you as a family or break you down. And I feel like this strengthens us. And the stone is kind of a symbol of that, of unity.” [14:01]

This finding not only provides a personal anchor but also serves as a beacon of hope for her family and her community.

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Conclusion

Dana Goodyear’s narrative in this episode of The New Yorker Radio Hour is a compelling blend of professional reportage and personal memoir. Her journey through loss, resilience, and recovery offers listeners a deeply human perspective on the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. David Remnick’s empathetic hosting ensures that Dana’s story resonates, highlighting the enduring spirit of individuals and communities in the face of unimaginable adversity.

David Remnick: “Well, Dana, all I can say is I send my love to you. Love from Esther and to Billy and to the whole family.” [14:59]

Dana’s experience underscores the intricate balance between documenting tragedy and enduring its personal impact, providing a nuanced understanding of life in the aftermath of disaster.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• Dana Goodyear: “I need to be seeing things that all the heroic emergency operations people are doing. And I also need to figure out what in the hell is going on at my house because we haven't been able to see it.” [01:50]
• Dana Goodyear: “I have an absolute pit in my stomach. I know I am about to see the neighborhood, but this is the road that I drove up every day.” [02:24]
• Dana Goodyear: “Our world was really little tiny pieces of metal holding it together.” [07:23]
• Dana Goodyear: “It feels like crises, they either strengthen you as a family or break you down. And I feel like this strengthens us. And the stone is kind of a symbol of that, of unity.” [14:01]
• David Remnick: “Well, Dana, all I can say is I send my love to you. Love from Esther and to Billy and to the whole family.” [14:59]

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This episode serves as a testament to human resilience and the intertwining of personal and collective narratives in the face of environmental calamities. Dana Goodyear’s story is both a personal journey and a broader commentary on the impact of wildfires on individuals and communities alike.

Transcript

[Progressive Insurance]

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[David Remnick]

This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. Staff writer Dana Goodyear has reported on California, the entertainment industry, a deadly crime spree in Malibu, Kamala Harris rise in politics, and the ever more fragile environment in the state. Dana has lived for a long time in Los Angeles in the neighborhood of the Pacific Palisades. And recently she and her family found their lives very much at the center of the story.

[Dana Goodyear]

About a week after the house burned down, I drove up Pacific coast highway and I stopped at a command post, basically right underneath my neighborhood at the beach. If you drive up about 1200ft, you're in the Palisades. I knew that I wanted to go back up there and they weren't letting residents in. They had no problem with me going in as a journalist.

[Jason Adam Katzenstein]

So you have a press pass and you're trying to get up there, is that. I guess my question to you is what's your ultimate goal today?

[Dana Goodyear]

I have combined goals, so I write.

For the New Yorker magazine. It's long form nonfiction journalism.

[Jason Adam Katzenstein]

Okay. No, that's right.

[Dana Goodyear]

And I need to be seeing things that all the heroic emergency operations people are doing. And I also need to figure out what in the hell is going on at my house because we haven't been able to see it.

[Jason Adam Katzenstein]

Okay.

[Dana Goodyear]

And I know it's gone, but more than that.

[Jason Adam Katzenstein]

Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry for that.

[Dana Goodyear]

Well, I mean, the thing that's so weird for me is that I've reported on so many fires and I just can't believe that it happened to you. I can't believe it. The beautiful Palisade, it's.

It's just.

Real. I'm driving up Chautauqua and I have an absolute pit in my stomach. I know I am about to see the neighborhood, but this is the road that I drove up every day. And I'm glad a lot of these houses are standing on Chautauqua so the fire didn't rip down through this little street so much. But I'm just so scared because I'm about to actually finally see it. We've been imagining it for a week, and when I was here with Brad, it was like fire everywhere, smoke in the air, emergency Vehicles. Just now. It's pretty much dead calm. Dead calm. No cars, no fire trucks. Just like a lot of broken lives. Okay, here we go. Here we go. There is literally no one anywhere in this neighborhood. It's so strange. It's so quiet. The wind is blowing lightly. The doves are back on the wires behind the house. I'm looking into this pit of.

Plaster.

And rebar and kind of understanding how my house was made. There's the fireplace that I really loved in our family room with the kind of. I forgot the name of that shape, but it's. I think it's maybe a kiva shape, the sort of almond shape. Half an almond shape. Opening in the fireplace. And the tiles on one side are still there. Then there's sort of a tangled mass. And there are all of our roof tiles scattered everywhere. Pizza oven. There's, like, shampoo bottles that are completely intact that were by the outdoor shower. The garage. It looks like Monday afternoon in my garage. The pillows are on the couch. My daughter's jar of homemade slime is sitting there intact on the. On the counter. All my books are in the shelves. Everything looks completely fine. And then the house just is an idea of a house or the aftermath of the house. I guess you can walk through the arched door at the front and the back, but there's just pretty much nothing in between. I wish I knew how it caught and why and if there's anything we could have done to change this outcome. And why is our garage still standing? I wish I knew how to know what its narrative was at this particular house. Like where the ember went in. What caught? What's that splatter all over the back wall of the house? The part that's still standing is just. Looks like someone took a paintbrush with black paint and flicked it, flung it all over the house. Did something explode there? What's so weird is just we had so much stuff. We had so many possessions, so many stupid possessions and so many really special possessions. And you can't see any of that here. It's almost like what it all comes.

Down to is nails.

Plaster and nails. Our world was really little tiny pieces of metal holding it together.

[David Remnick]

Dana Goodyear in Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles. More in a moment.

[Progressive Insurance]

WNYC Studios is supported by Hydro.

[Jason Adam Katzenstein]

Hi, I'm Jason Adam Katzenstein, and I'm a cartoonist with a New Yorker. Something that I like to do is to stay home, because home is where you can wear sweatpants and watch movies. Another benefit of home is that you don't have to be perceived by other people. But I do like feeling healthy and having endorphins and also I need my muscles to be huge so that I can draw those cartoons. And this, dear listeners is what I love about the hydro rowing machine because now I can have the workout of an outdoorsman while being an indoorsman and you get to do the workout equivalent of staying in and watching a movie. But in this case you have that little TV hooked up to the hydro and you get workouts that are led by Olympians and world class athletes. Also the hydro is low impact which means minimal risk of injury and that is great news for me personally because I am very injury prone. Kick off the New year with a full body workout all from the comfort of home with hydro. Head over to hydro.com and use code New Yorker to save up to $475 off your Hydro Pro Rower. That's H Y--R-O-W.com code New Yorker to save up to four hundred and seventy five dollars hydro.com code New Yorker the New Yorker Radio Hour is supported by Rocket Money. The start of a new year is the perfect time to get organized, set goals and prioritize what matters most. One common top priority for many of us is financial wellness. Thanks to Rocket Money, financial goals can feel achievable. They show you all of your subscriptions right in one place and pull together spending across different accounts to track spending habits. Rocket Money's dashboard also gives you a clear view of your expenses across all of your accounts and can help you easily create a personalized budget with custom categories to help keep your spending on track. Whether your goal is to pay off credit card debt, put away money for a house, or just build your savings, Rocket Money makes it easy. Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved users a total of $500 million in cancelled subscriptions. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Just go to RocketMoney.com NYRH today that's RocketMoney.com NYRH do you have a car, truck, boat, motorcycle or RV that is no longer of use to you? No matter what shape it's in, you can donate it to WNYC even if it's a hundred years old. Donating is easy, the pickup is free and you'll get a tax deduction. Learn [e-mail] car.

[Progressive Insurance]

A very different media.

[Dana Goodyear]

Landscape greets this new Trump White House, and some observers see the meek coverage.

[Jason Adam Katzenstein]

Of the inauguration as a harbinger of what's to come. None of the CNN anchors pointed out that Donald Trump is the first convicted felon to take that office. They didn't point out that he was twice impeached. Plus, what's the deal with President McKinley?

[Dana Goodyear]

It's all on this week's on the Media from WNYC. Find on the Media, wherever you get your podcasts.

[David Remnick]

So, Dana, you've been documenting the loss of your home while you're reporting on the effects of this immense catastrophe in Los Angeles. And that's gotta be beyond difficult. You told me you went back to the house again a few days later. So what did you find there?

[Dana Goodyear]

Yeah, so I went back and I was just wandering around when some law enforcement emergency personnel saw me and everyone was really super friendly, you know, do you need water? Do you need a snack? Are you okay? And I said, yeah, I'm just, you know, they said, we'll come walk to your house with you. And so I went, finished the walk, got to my house and I said, you know, the thing that I've been really wondering about is this fireproof safe. It was a 400 pound safe that I had just installed in October. And feeling very pleased with myself, I got all of my important documents out of storage in downtown LA and put them in the fireproof safe along with a small box of jewelry. And when I went back, I've kind of had, I think my eyes had adjusted to the new layout of my home, you might say. And I had figured out where my office was because it was in a closet in my office. And I saw this kind of listing, four file high, totally black, it used to be beige piece of metal. And I was like, that's got to be it. And this incredibly helpful person with steel toed boots said, you know what, I'm gonna go in there and see if I can get it for you. I was like, are you serious? Because I thought I was gonna have to wait until FEMA cleared the site.

Was it in the top drawer, you think?

[Jason Adam Katzenstein]

I don't think so.

[Dana Goodyear]

I think it was in the second, third or fourth. And then he goes, wait a minute, here's a little metal box.

Little box, okay.

Oh, that might have a gold ring in it. And I was thinking, oh my God. My mom had given my daughter her school ring.

Oh my God, it's my mom's school ring.

We started sifting through the dust using the piece of metal that had held the top of one of the files, you know, those little hanging files thing, using that, and found the stone from my engagement ring.

Oh, that's my ring. That's my wedding ring. Yes. So, wow. It looks like the diamonds melted out or something. Oh, my God.

The feeling of being able to have a happy story to tell. Not just my kids who are so anxious about what it all means, but also all the people who want our lives to be okay. Like, it weirdly has meant so much to them that I found this thing. It feels like, okay, this family's gonna be okay, even though, you know, it's just a symbol. But I'm super happy to have this stone. It just feels like crises, they either strengthen you as a family or break you down. And I feel like this strengthens us. And the stone is kind of a symbol of that, of unity.

[David Remnick]

Well, Dana, all I can say is I send my love to you. Love from Esther and to Billy and to the whole family.

[Dana Goodyear]

Thank you. I appreciate it.

[David Remnick]

Dana Goodyear is covering this year's wildfires in Los Angeles for the New Yorker. I'm David Remnick. That's the New Yorker Radio Hour for this week and thanks for listening. See you next time.

[Progressive Insurance]

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[Jason Adam Katzenstein]

And we had special assistance this week.

[Progressive Insurance]

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