{"id":845,"date":"2026-07-05T08:44:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=845"},"modified":"2026-07-05T08:44:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-05T08:44:22","slug":"book-review-torched-by-jonathan-vigliotti","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbaneconomynews.com\/?p=845","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: \u2018Torched\u2019 by Jonathan Vigliotti"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Flames, firestorms, and abject failure are the clear and present themes throughout CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti\u2019s latest book, Torched.<\/em><\/p>\n

Read more An Imperfect World That Is Better Than Ever<\/a><\/p>\n

Not just burned-out buildings and streets, not just charred lives and legacies, but burned credibility, flamed-out political careers, and the fake veneer of competence\u2014which the Los Angeles city and county governments were supposed to provide for Pacific Palisades\u2014are on full, necessary display in his work.<\/p>\n

For the worst mass fire in Los Angeles history, Vigliotti documents the events before, during, and after the disaster.<\/p>\n

I was burned in mind and spirit after reading his excellent report, which starts with the rich history of the Pacific Palisades and its early religious founding. Then he weaves together resonant stories of community and continuity, further deepening the justified outrage over the massive incompetence and unaccountability that ignited the historic conflagration of the Palisades.<\/p>\n

At the outset, Vigliotti writes about local weather managers and surveyors, as well as meteorologists who repeatedly warned any city leaders who would listen. The city should have announced red flag warnings by New Year\u2019s Eve 2024, going into New Year\u2019s week 2025. Their warnings abounded as they plotted the rising Santa Ana winds, the low humidity, and the dry conditions that would unleash unprecedented fiery carnage on Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

Yet no one listened. How was this possible?<\/p>\n

How could Jan. 7, 2025, have happened? After reading the book, the reader is left asking, \u201cHow could this not have happened?!\u201d<\/p>\n

Vigliotti was in the eye of the storm, reporting on the horrific fires that engulfed the once-unassailable Pacific Palisades.<\/p>\n

His accurate and emotional reporting explores the wreckage of the recent past, including in painstaking detail (literally and figuratively) the failures, fallouts, and follies of the politicians tasked with keeping Los Angeles safe.<\/p>\n

Reading this book gave me an eyewitness view of the massive, tragic disaster inside and out when most of Los Angeles was uninformed of the dangers then and the full scope of failure up to now.<\/p>\n

Through Torched<\/em>, Vigliotti features the endearing stories of many survivors, such as Raymond and Mandy Church, who took over the plumbing business from Hercules (Herk) and Annette Rossilli. This couple remained close friends with widow Annette Rossilli until the very end. When the flames began ravaging the Palisades, Annette wouldn\u2019t leave her home. Vigliotti reports that many elders resist emergency evacuation orders in the face of firestorms. They have already lost family, and the remains of their lives are enshrined in their homes. They leave, and the home goes up in flames. What else do they have? With all of this in the background, Vigliotti reflects on Annette\u2019s decision to stay behind and protect her pets, since she was banking on the false hope that the Palisades flames would not destroy her home.<\/p>\n

Read more Book Review: \u2018The Last Men: Liberalism and the Death of Masculinity,\u2019 by Charles Cornish-Dale (Raw Egg Nationalist)<\/a><\/p>\n

She would not survive.<\/p>\n

In another moving account, Vigliotti retells the final heroism of 32-year-old Rory Sykes, a former child star and motivational speaker born blind with cerebral palsy. This young man and his mother were caught off guard by the fire\u2014again, because of multiple failures from the poorly manned and poorly planned Los Angeles emergency response. The son could not get into his wheelchair in time as the fires began destroying their home. He told his mother, \u201cYou can\u2019t save me. Save yourself.\u201d To the very end, Rory put the needs of others first. Throughout Torched<\/em>, Vigliotti restores new life and attention to Rory and other heroes in the Palisades fire, all too easily forgotten in the midst of anger and demands for accountability. Even the writer rescued three pets from another home. Not grandstanding, Vigliotti simply relates that there were many small moments of successful heroism despite the epic failures of the city leaders during the ferocious blaze that engulfed the Palisades.<\/p>\n

In the midst of the whole fiasco inferno, Vigliotti justifiably indicts former LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley. Even before reading the book, I recognized that Crowley had encountered system failures: no water, not enough crew support, not enough funding, terrible communication networks, an absent mayor, and an unaware interim mayor. Yet in the face of such monstrous obstacles, Crowley and her crew did their best to stop the fire and save lives. To his credit, Vigliotti also informs readers about her efforts and heroism to save lives and homes during the 2018 Woolsey Fire. Then and now, Crowley displayed calm under fire, figuratively and literally.<\/p>\n

In contrast to well-deserved vindication, Vigliotti targets Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass with the greatest condemnation. Without providing proper notice or notes to her team or executive departments, Bass traveled to the West African nation of Ghana for the celebrated inauguration of the country\u2019s new president. She failed to appoint key emergency managers in her absence. Deputy Mayor Marqueece Harris-Dawson didn\u2019t inform L.A. leaders that he was acting mayor until late in the crisis. He didn\u2019t even know Bass\u2019 whereabouts!<\/p>\n

Vigliotti traces in minute detail Bass\u2019 out-of-touch fumbling, from incoherent social media to her distracting itinerary in Ghana, including attendance at official functions, and her perfunctory connection with city leaders when the Palisades fires erupted.<\/p>\n

Despite his great reporting, there are two criticisms I must report. Vigliotti wants to spread the blame to all parties, including incoming President-elect Trump, as well as Gov. Newsom and Mayor Bass. Included in his involved timeline of the fire\u2019s escalation and destruction, he faults President-elect Trump with wanting to expedite recovery in the region. Such a reaction seems understandable for an incoming commander-in-chief. Trump has no role in the Palisades fires. And what about Biden? Vigliotti points out that President Biden and Gov. Newsom canceled a ceremony in the Palm Springs area before announcing the creation of two new monuments. Why? Inclement weather. Why didn\u2019t Biden take more direct action, regardless of the local response? Bass deferred requesting support because she didn\u2019t know the extent of what was happening.<\/p>\n

As he accurately reports, Mayor Bass deserves the bulk of the blame for the Palisades disaster. Vigliotti details how she failed as chief executive, neglecting her crucial role of signaling, directing, and supervising all emergency resources to secure and safeguard the city. There\u2019s no need or reason to implicate Trump.<\/p>\n

Part of his title includes \u201cThe Rush to Rebuild Olympic L.A.\u201d Vigliotti stresses the danger of political haste from L.A. and California leaders to rebuild. That contentious subject diverts from the fire itself. Vigliotti should have expounded on the Olympics angle\u2014with all of its political machinations\u2014in another book. His reporting on the causes and outcomes of the worst fire in Los Angeles\u2019 history was subject matter enough for a wide-ranging account that will engage any reader.<\/p>\n

On a different note, I appreciate his contrast between the massive failures of the public fire systems and the effective, efficient, and successful private firefighters employed by Rick Caruso. Whether intended or not, Vigliotti shows how free enterprise provides more effective relief in difficult times.<\/p>\n

Vigliotti\u2019s Torched<\/em> provides on-the-ground and overarching reporting, giving the reader a broad array of viewpoints to understand what happened, why it happened, and how the powers that be have not learned from Los Angeles\u2019 latest failure, with hope that the next disaster doesn\u2019t engulf more homes and lives.<\/p>\n

Read more A Tale of Two Countries<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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