Book Review: Torched, by Jonathan Vigliotti

Flames, firestorms, and abject Democrat failure are the clear and present themes throughout the CBS News correspondent’s brand new book.

Arthur Schaper | July 1, 2026

Flames, firestorms, and abject failure are the clear and present themes throughout CBS News correspondent Jonathan Vigliotti’s latest book, Torched.

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—which the Los Angeles City and County governments were supposed to provide Pacific Palisades—are on full, necessary display in his work.

For the worst mass fire in Los Angeles history, Vigliotti documents the before, during, and after that led to it all.

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

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’s Eve 2024, going into New Year’s week 2025. Their warnings abounded as they plotted the rising Santa Ana winds, the low humidity, and the dry factors that would unleash unprecedented fiery carnage on Los Angeles.

Yet no one listened. How was this possible?

How could January 7th, 2025, have happened? After reading the book, the reader is left asking: “How could this NOT have happened?!”

Vigliotti was in the eye of the storm, reporting on the horrific fires that engulfed the once-unassailable Pacific Palisades.

His accurate and emotional reporting explores the wreckage of the recent past, including in painstaking detail (literally and figuratively)........

© American Thinker