'The Wirecutter Show': The True Cost of Recovering from the L.A. Wildfires, Part 1

Hey, everyone. It's Rachel. We wanted to share a show from our colleagues over at Wirecutter today from their podcast. It's part of a three part series that they've made, and it's timed to the anniversary of the devastating fires in Los Angeles a year ago. But it covers things that are relevant to everyone. Because with climate change, severe weather, disasters, they're, of course, becoming worse and more frequent everywhere. This series, it focuses on two of Wirecutter's writers who were affected by the fires, and it looks at these kinds of disasters in all sorts of really specific and important ways. How to be prepared, what you should keep in your house, all sorts of lessons you only learn when you personally live through a tragedy like that. Again, this show is part of a three part series. And for the other shows, look for The Wirecutter podcast wherever you listen. Okay. Here's their episode. So we're coming up kind of the west side of the burn scar now, but you can also still see the difference between the mountains that are green and the mountains that are burned. This is my colleague, Michael Cohen. My name is Michael Bradley Cohen. I am a deals writer at Wirecutter for all those who follow along over Black Friday. Michael goes by Mike, and he used to live in the neighborhood we're driving through right now, Altadena, just outside of LA. LA. Exactly a year ago, on 01/07/2025, the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted. They would ultimately become among the most destructive in California's history, eventually burning down more than 16,000 structures, including nearly 6,000 homes in Altadena. Mike's home was one of them. I lived in Altadena. It was the first con we ever bought. It has gotten so much better already. And even driving up Lincoln, like, all of this was covered in ash and debris and everything. And to see all the lawns back and to see, like, people here is all really, really exciting. Again, we're still kind of just skirting the burns car, but we'll turn right on Altadena Drive, and then we'll head in. I'm and this is The Wirecutter Show. Today's episode is the first in a three part series. It's an expansion of what we normally do on this show. We're gonna focus on the disaster collectively known as the LA wildfires. We'll be talking about some specific pieces of advice in the context of emergency preparedness, but we're also gonna hear the human side of this story. We'll talk with Mike and another colleague of ours, Gregory Hahn, who lived through the Eaton Fire, about the things they've learned over the past year, about the unpredictability of natural disasters and just how long, arduous, emotional, and expensive the road to recovery can be. You'll also hear the voices of my executive producer and co host, Rosie Garen, and producer Abigail Kiel, who were on the ground with me reporting in LA …