About

Burning Too Close to Home is a long-form multimedia reporting and design project examining the 2018 Woolsey Fire within the broader trajectory of California’s increasingly severe wildfire seasons.

It began as a data-driven analysis of a decade of CAL FIRE records and evolved into a book-length investigation centered on the Woolsey Fire and its impact on Malibu’s multi-generational, working-class community. The work bridges data and lived experience, examining wildfire not simply as a natural disaster, but as the outcome of decisions, omissions, and long-standing inequities.

At its core is the loss of my father and, six months later, the destruction of the home he built and I grew up in. The narrative begins there and expands outward to include accounts from more than fifteen other survivors, placing their voices within a detailed timeline of the fire. Throughout, the project situates Woolsey within the broader history and identity of the community it burned, rather than treating it as an isolated event.

Blending investigative reporting, oral history, and editorial design, Burning Too Close to Home documents not only what burned, but what made it burn—and how the community stepped in when institutions fell short.