Reporter fights flames while covering dangerous wildfire

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Joel B. Pollak found himself in an extraordinary situation Wednesday afternoon, simultaneously covering the Palisades fire as a reporter while fighting to protect his own residence in the Marquez Knolls neighborhood, where most homes had already succumbed to the flames.

While documenting the fire’s progression through Pacific Palisades, Pollak navigated areas that were relatively safe despite active fires and hazardous live power lines that had fallen during the disaster. During his reporting duties, he made his way to check on his own property.

This fire is absolutely wild. I can’t even imagine what these people are going through pic.twitter.com/ddZjkbS93w

— jay plemons (@jayplemons) January 8, 2025

Discovering his home’s water supply had been cut off, Pollak improvised by gathering water from street gutters using various containers found in his house. He used these makeshift water supplies to combat flames threatening his property’s perimeter.

Fortune smiled briefly when two passing neighbors, both working as handymen, spotted Pollak’s solo firefighting efforts and stopped to assist. Together, they ferried water-filled buckets to extinguish small fires near the property’s fences and in adjacent yards. However, the intensifying flames eventually forced his impromptu firefighting team to retreat.

Listen to my articulate neighbor rip into the politicians who held a press conference while the neighborhood was burning, and into the lack of preparedness and communication among city agencies. Sad to report his building burned down. It was such a beautiful place. #PalisadesFire pic.twitter.com/zvgN6rLKGW

— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) January 9, 2025

Pollak resumed his reporting duties elsewhere in the Palisades, including coverage of actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s property, which was completely destroyed by the fire.

As Wednesday night falls and despite calmer winds, the fire continues to rage, leaving the fate of Pollak’s home uncertain.