A city rises again from the ashes – but will it be strong enough?
CBS News national correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti spent countless days and nights covering the terrible California fires last year. His new book, "Torched: How a City Was Left to Burn, and the Olympic Rush to Rebuild L.A." (to be published May 12 by Atria/One Signal), recounts that harrowing experience. This morning, he shares some thoughts:
You probably remember the story of The Three Little Pigs. Three houses, built three ways (of straw, sticks, and bricks), and a big bad wolf, huffing and puffing, testing each one.
That story played out in real life last year in Los Angeles.
The wolf – in this case, extreme wind and fire fueled by climate change – leveled most of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. Just like in the fairy tale, not all the homes were created equal.
L.A.'s "straw" homes – older wood homes built before modern fire codes – made up many of the losses. The city's "stick" homes were built to code and fared better, but code still allows wood construction, and many still burned. Far fewer homes were built like the third pig's house, the "brick" one. Those were homes that exceeded code. Many survived.
Now, Los Angeles is rushing to rebuild ahead of the 2028 Olympics, what Governor Newsom once called the "Recovery Games." A cleanup and permit process that typically takes a year has been compressed into months.
To be fair, "fast" isn't always the enemy of "good," but shortcuts almost always are. In the rush, there's been little time to ask: How do we build differently?
Instead, we're returning to the same blueprint: new wood homes, even though steel and concrete composite homes (which resist flames far longer than wood) are available at similar cost, and often lower insurance premiums. What I report in my new book is that many homeowners aren't even told about that option, because changing course takes time.
After a tornado leveled Joplin, Missouri, in 2011, the city adopted significantly stronger building standards. After 2005's Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans elevated rebuilt homes on stilts.
On Katrina's 10th anniversary, President Obama said real change takes time – and the courage to do things differently.
In Los Angeles, the status quo, and speed, are driving the recovery. But there's still time to pump the brakes. Permits are moving fast, but most homes haven't broken ground. There is time to adapt.
And we must. Because the "wolf" is still out there, and still getting stronger.
And it doesn't have to win. We already know how this story ends: The wolf huffed. He puffed. But one house – one house – still stood.
READ AN EXCERPT: "Torched" by Jonathan Vigliotti
For more info:
- "Torched: How a City Was Left to Burn, and the Olympic Rush to Rebuild L.A." by Jonathan Vigliotti (Atria/One Signal), in Hardcover, Large Print Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available May 12 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Story produced by John Goodwin. Editor: Chad Cardin.
See also:
- One year after California wildfires, progress is slow in rebuilding ("Sunday Morning")
- Rebuilding Paradise ("Sunday Morning")
- Steve Guttenberg on assisting during the Pacific Palisades wildfire, and caring for his personal hero ("Sunday Morning")
- Climate scientist: "There's no place that's safe" ("Sunday Morning")