Sometimes you report on the news, and other times you become a part of the news. One NBC reporter got emotional when realizing that his own former childhood home burned up in the devastating California wildfire.
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Correspondent Jacob Soboroff has been reporting on the chaotic scene in Pacific Palisades, California. Speaking with People, Soboroff revealed that they fire has burned through parts of his childhood neighborhood.
"It's a really awful situation," he said. "I was born and raised here. And it's really devastating to see."
The NBC reporter was shocked by how quickly the fire tore through the neighborhood and practically destroyed it all.
NBC Reporter Gets Emotional
"The idea that the entire [neighborhood] could be destroyed as we know it within 24 hours is really a remarkable thing," he said. "As I'm talking to you now, I'm watching another structure go up in flames. This has been going on for 24 hours — and it shows no signs of letting up."
His heart went out to the various people who still lived in the area. He described the neighborhood as very special to him.
"There are families who lived here for generations and there are lots of young, new families who've moved in and worked there. It's a very special place," he says. "You can live a life where you can walk into the village and walk into the grocery stores or the pharmacy or the library."
Although he hadn't visited his childhood home in years, learning that it burned down was a difficult pill to swallow. He went back to find that just the chimney was still standing. All those memories went up in a puff of smoke.
"It's very tough," he said. "I don't live here anymore, but there are thousands of people who do. There was a small part of me inside that felt a tiny fraction of what everybody else is going through — to see the house that I knew from my childhood. Basically [just] the chimney is left standing by itself."
Right now, strong winds are fueling the flames.
"Until the winds let up, this is gonna keep going," says Soboroff. "The idea of these hurricane force wind gusts in Los Angeles is not something a lot of us are used to, especially when fires are raging like this."
