Michael Cohen

It was the first home we ever bought.

It has gotten so much better already and even driving up Lincoln like all of this was covered in ash and debris and everything and to see all the lawns back and to see like people here is all really really exciting.

Again we're still kind of just skirting the burn scar but we'll turn right on Altadena Drive and then we'll head in.

I'm Christine Cyr-Clessette, and this is The Wirecutter Show.

Today's episode is the first in a three-part series.

It's an expansion of what we normally do on this show.

We're going to focus on the disaster collectively known as the L.A.

wildfires.

We'll be talking about some specific pieces of advice in the context of emergency preparedness, but we're also going to hear the human side of this story.

We'll talk with Mike and another colleague of ours, Gregory Hahn, who lived through the Eaton Fire, about the things they've learned over the past year, about the unpredictability of natural disasters and just how long, arduous, emotional, and expensive the road to recovery can be.

You'll also hear the voices of my executive producer and co-host, Rosie Guerin, and producer Abigail Keel, who were on the ground with me reporting in L.A.

in December 2025.

Yeah.

So right when we turn off Lincoln and we start getting into this, the west side of Altadena, now it's more

is this the house that's just being built or is that yeah that's that's a that one's going up that one's going up that one it seems like survived somehow looks like maybe had roof damage only because the roof's two different colors this is extraordinary this is just right you go after a lot of nothing

Yeah, and if you put your hazards on, most people, now that we're in the burn zone, nobody's here unless they want to be.

Like there's no real through traffic, so you can kind of drive as slow as you want.

But then you have an entire block right here that's like untouched it looks like.

Like I can't paint a picture of the negative space with my words well enough to describe like

They're supposed to be houses, and people, and kids on bikes, and people walking dogs, and somebody watering their lawn.