This image provided by NBC shows reporter Jacob Soboroff covering the wildfires in Los Angeles. (NBC via AP)2025-01-10T14:53:04Z Follow live updates on the Los Angeles wildfires. NBC News reporter Jacob Soboroff didnt know what to expect when he turned his SUV onto the Pacific Palisades street where he grew up. What he found on Wednesday were smoldering ruins where his childhood home had stood. Only the remnants of a chimney and brick wall remained. It was among the countless number of buildings destroyed in the Los Angeles-area wildfires, where Soboroff is one of many journalists covering the story and living it.His own tale, told across several NBC News platforms Wednesday and Thursday, broke the so-called fourth wall and gave viewers an intimate experience of what the tragedy felt like.Im not going to pretend that Im not a human without my own thoughts and feelings, Soboroff said in an interview on Thursday. It would almost be a disservice to hide the emotions about what Ive seen.At first, the camera caught him staring blankly and trying to process. This is the first time Ive seen the house I grew up in and I really dont know what to say, he told viewers. Getting out of the vehicle, he pulled out his phone to FaceTime his mother about what had become of the house that he and four siblings lived in until he was 10. Even if it came as a surprise to Soboroff, it probably wasnt to viewers as they had watched him drive through the community, devastation all around him.What Ive seen here is what I would have expected from an earthquake, he said in the interview. This is what the Big One would have looked like. Not a fire. Weve had fires before. Soboroff, 41, lives now in a house near Dodger Stadium with his wife and two children. Everyone is safe, and the house is untouched, he said.Some journalists werent so lucky. Ryan Pearson, an entertainment video manager at The Associated Press, covered the fire all day Wednesday before finding that his home in Altameda had burned to the ground. Fire spared the home of Fox News Jonathan Hunt in West L.A., but his daughters high school was destroyed. Other reporters, like KCALs Rick Montanez, broke down on the air while describing some of what they were seeing. Soboroff has alternated reporting with personal missions this week. Since telling the story of his childhood home, several people reached out to ask him to check on their own homes, and hes tried to fulfill requests when he can. He went to see if a plaque honoring his father for helping build a local park was still visible. It was.He doesnt know who was living now in the home where he grew up, but is trying to find out and reach them.For me it was my memories, he said. But for them, it was the house they lived in.___David Bauder writes about media for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social DAVID BAUDER Bauder is the APs national media writer, covering the intersection of news, politics and entertainment. He is based in New York. twitter mailto