L.A. Firestorm, on Reelz

According to retired Fire Captain Rich Snyder, the dangerous combination of weather, topography, and combustible fuel (brush and houses) were plain to see well before the Eaton and Palisades fires erupted in Southern California one year ago. Perhaps the lack of planning, organization, and local governmental competence were also predictable. Regardless, multiple survivors make the same point, over and over. When it came to saving their homes and property, they were on their own. Some succeeded and some did not, but all their stories are genuinely harrowing in showrunner-writer-director Tim Prokop’s three-part documentary mini-series L.A. Firestorm: Inside the Inferno, which premieres tomorrow on Reelz.

As a survivor-witness David Low remembers the winds were unusually, but not shockingly, high, while the air was dry. He was keenly attuned to both, as a surfer and a professional cellist (humidity affects stringed instruments). Obviously, this also has huge implications for forest fires. Consequently, when the Eaton and Palisades fires ignited, they spread like—you know—wildfire.

Tragically, the fires quickly engulfed densely populated neighborhoods, including Snyder’s. He called dispatch directly, but all trucks were already engaged, so instead he recruited several fellow department retirees and his nephew to combat the embers endangering his house.

It wasn’t just homes that were in the line of fire. Lee Borsay explains the safety protocols he activated to protect Getty Villa Museum’s collection, as a member of their emergency response team. Likewise, staffers at the Zorthian Ranch, a working animal farm and artist colony went to extraordinary lengths to evacuate their livestock. However, they were severely limited by fire, traffic, limited trailer capacity, and the animals’ own skittishness, so Thomas Messina stayed behind with the remaining sheep and cows in ranch’s central corral, to protect and reassure them as best he could. Many people claim to love animals, but Messina truly walked the walk.

Indeed, the survival stories collected in L.A. Firestorm are truly hair-raising. Frankly, it is incredible how much they were able to save, thankfully including artist Nani Nam’s four dogs, whom former EMT Caleb Serban-Lawler ferried to safety, along with their owner. Yet, it is worth noting Prokop’s interview subjects are entirely civilians. Of course, it makes sense LA Mayor Karen Bass never appears, because she was out of the country during the fires.

Indeed, only the final ten minutes start to question the official response and questionable funding decisions made prior to the outbreak of the Eaton and Palisades fires. It is not like they did not have any warning. The Franklin Fire had just scorched nearly 50 buildings in Malibu only one month prior. In some ways, Prokop buries his lede, when survivor Erin Kyle confirms firefighters tearfully admitted to her that they ran out of water while fighting the January 2025 blazes. However, several participants put the blame on LA’s antiquated water system, which experience massive pipe breakage, because so much of the network is above ground.

Regardless, someone should analyze what went wrong and how the problems can be rectified, because Prokop cites calculations estimating the total damage could top out around $250 billion, with a “B.”

Hopefully Ring doorbell cameras received a credit, because a surprisingly amount of footage was culled from their devices. Yet, the nature of the assembled video and the sheer volume of the destruction documented therein far exceeds what most viewers might have seen from brief news reports. Prokop and company truly bring home the scale of the devastation. Very highly recommended, L.A. Firestorm starts airing tomorrow (2/1) on Reelz.