On a recent trip down the familiar streets of Pacific Palisades, NBC News reporter Jacob Soboroff encountered a scene that left him in shock. The place he once called home had been reduced to smoldering ruins, with only the remnants of a chimney and a brick wall remaining. This was just one example among many buildings that were devastated by wildfires in the Los Angeles area, where Soboroff found himself not only reporting on the disaster but also experiencing it personally.

During his coverage on NBC News, Soboroff sought to dissolve the traditional barriers often found in journalism, allowing viewers to connect with the emotional impact of the situation. In an interview, he expressed, “I’m not going to pretend that I’m not a human without my own thoughts and feelings. It would almost be a disservice to hide the emotions about what I’ve seen.”

The raw emotions were evident as he stood at the site of his childhood home, struggling to find words to encapsulate the loss. “This is the first time I’ve seen the house I grew up in and I really don’t know what to say,” he admitted to those watching. Stepping out of his SUV, he felt compelled to FaceTime his mother to share the heartbreaking revelation about their former home, which he had shared with four siblings until he was ten.

Although Soboroff was taken aback, viewers had a front-row seat to the devastation surrounding him as he drove through the neighborhood. He articulated his shock by comparing the destruction to that of a major earthquake, stating, “What I’ve seen here is what I would have expected from an earthquake. This is what the Big One would have looked like. Not a fire. We’ve had fires before.”

At 41 years old, Soboroff resides in a home near Dodger Stadium with his wife and two children, and thankfully, their home was untouched by the fires. However, not all journalists were spared from the disaster. Ryan Pearson, an entertainment video manager for The Associated Press, spent the day reporting on the fire before discovering that his own home in Altadena had been lost. Similarly, Nataly Tavidian, a reporter for KNX radio, found out that her childhood home in Pasadena, where her mother and brother still lived, was also consumed by flames. Some, like Fox News’ Jonathan Hunt, had their homes saved but faced damage to their family’s property, while KCAL’s Rick Montanez broke down on-air, overwhelmed by the tragic scenes he was witnessing.

Throughout the week, Soboroff navigated both reporting and personal commitments. Following his poignant story about his childhood dwelling, several individuals reached out to him, asking if he could check on their homes. He made efforts to fulfill their requests and even discovered that a plaque honoring his father for his contributions to a local park remained intact.

While he is unsure of the new residents living in his childhood home, Soboroff expressed a desire to connect with them, recognizing the different significance the house now holds. “For me it was my memories,” he said. “But for them, it was the house they lived in.”