Brendan’s Alternate Tagline for Torched:
Homes and reputations burned to a crisp.
Quick synopsis:
The behind-the-scenes story of the 2025 LA Wildfires.
Fact for Non-History People:
The fires killed 30 people and forced 180,000 to flee their homes.
Fact for History Nerds:
The economic cost to be somewhere from $76 billion to $131 billion.
My Take on Torched:
One might be tempted to think that the title of Torched is only about the 2025 LA wildfires, but I can assure you it is also meant to refer to author Jonathan Vigliotti’s burning rage at the administration of LA mayor Karen Bass. Make no mistake, Torched is about fire, but it is also about the abject failure to prevent it.
Vigliotti takes a rather unconventional approach to his subject matter. He first starts after the fires when Governor Newsom and Bass meet with President-elect Trump to discuss how to rebuild in time for the Olympics. The author wants you to know that before the ashes even cooled, politics was focused on plowing right through the red tape to make the Olympics a success. The safety of the rebuilding be damned.
I half wondered if Vigliotti was going to completely ignore the nitty-gritty of the fires and turn this entirely into a story about political ineptitude, but what becomes clear is that he wants the reader to never lose sight of the fact that the mayor was MIA during the worst of it and immediately tried to put it behind her. There is a human villain in this story.
Vigliotti then moves back in time to a previous wildfire in California. He shows how the 2025 wildfires were not some act of God that no one could have prepared for. 2025 was the sequel, not the original. No one with power learned their lesson and many would have to pay for it.
I wondered if this might make the actual sections on the 2025 wildfires less impactful, but instead it was easier to read about all the different people and their actions because you got a bit more time with them. And holy hell, did the vast majority of them mess up. Bass was out of the country, barely told anyone, her second in command thought a meeting was more important, and everyone else ended up chasing their tails.
In the end, police, fire, and EMS were left to try and do what they could with no leadership. Vigliotti spares no one. He names names, shows how communication was minimal at best and usually focused on the wrong things. LAFD chief Kristin Crowley comes off best, but even she appears well-meaning but unable to rise to the occasion. In this mess, Vigliotti tells the story of multiple residents who were in the fire’s path waiting for someone to lead. Some would save themselves and some would not.
Very often, I like my books to let me connect the dots. The author just needs to leave the breadcrumbs for me to follow. While Vigliotti leaves no doubt as to where the blame lies, I wouldn’t call any of it unfair. Even the most generous viewing of the evidence looks terrible for those involved. There is no need to play coy, and to Vigliotti’s credit, he keeps it professional.
I probably wouldn’t.
(This book was provided as a review copy by Atria Books.)
Verdict:
Amazing and enraging. Buy it here!
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