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The Story

'We’re praying for mercy here': Escaping the LA inferno

The Story

The Times

Politics, Uk News, News, Long-form Audio, Global News, In-depth Journalism, Daily News, Exclusive Interviews, Audio Storytelling, News Analysis, Current Affairs, Investigative Reporting, Daily News Podcast

3.91.6K Ratings

🗓️ 14 January 2025

⏱️ 27 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As LA continues to battle its worst fires in history, the political blame game has started, with Donald Trump accusing California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, of caring more about fish than people. We’ll explain.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory


Guests:

  • Megan Agnew, senior features writer (US), The Times.
  • Jamie Hartman, songwriter and producer based in Los Angeles, CA

Hosts: Luke Jones and Edith Rousselot

Producer: Edith Rousselot

Clips: NBC News, NewsNation, CBS News, ABC 10, KTLA 5, The Tonight Show 

Photo: Getty Images.

Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.com.


This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode of The Story is sponsored by Sky, where you can watch the brand new Sky original drama Lockerbie,

0:06.0

A Search for Truth, starring Academy Award winner Colin Firth. It's based on the true story of one of the

0:11.5

worst air disasters in history, the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which crashed over the town of Lockerbie.

0:19.0

259 passengers were killed on the plane and 11 people were killed in the town.

0:23.6

This series is the cinematic and incredibly powerful story of Jim Swire, played by Colin Firth.

0:31.6

Jim lost his daughter Flora in the attack and went on to become a lifelong campaigner in the search for truth, trying to get justice for the victims.

0:40.1

Lockerbie is suspenseful and moving. It is a story loaded with jeopardy and risk you will be hooked from the first episode.

0:48.3

Lockerby, a search for truth. All episodes are available right now on Sky.

0:54.6

From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is The Story.

0:57.8

I'm Luke Jones.

1:04.0

A week on, fires are still raging in Western Los Angeles.

1:08.5

Got some clothes, threw them in the bag again and went out the door, got in the car,

1:12.7

and joined the thousands of people heading south.

1:16.3

As anxious Angelenos wait to return home or wait to see if their home will be spared as the fires continue,

1:23.5

fingers are already being pointed.

1:25.8

It was really the beginning of last week that the blame game began.

1:29.8

I mean, I think people were incredibly anxious

1:32.6

and looking to their political leadership for reassurance.

1:48.5

The story today, escaping the Los Angeles Inferno.

2:08.3

Very dangerous situation. Unfolding in Southern California right now as we are taking a look at the smoke from the Palisades fire that has erupted.

2:12.0

It has grown pretty quickly there just outside of L.A.

2:15.5

It's Tuesday last week, the 7th of January.

...

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