An ABC News correspondent reveals she spent just one night in her “dream home” before it turned to rubble during the devastating wildfires raging in Los Angeles.
Zohreen Shah and her husband lost their “magical” new home in Malibu before the Palisades fire destroyed it, she wrote in a post on Instagram.
“Over and over, I told Rishi I couldn’t believe this sanctuary was ours. We spent one night there. Just one,” she wrote.
“As much as I’m determined to rebuild with Rishi, we are also so damn sad. I know we are very lucky - we are safe. But I ping-pong between feeling like a stronger, wiser version of myself and curling up into a scared, 4-year-old version.”
The pair had found the home in November, closed on the house on Christmas Eve and started moving in last week. The home was just five minutes from Pacific Coast Highway, which was ravaged by the blaze.
The correspondent was “so proud” to have bought the home because her parents didn’t own a home growing up. “Like so many, I worked, I saved, and sacrificed with the dream of having what my parents didn’t have,” she wrote.
After years of cooking most meals at home and not traveling for fun, she said she saved enough to afford 20 percent of the down payment. “And then — just like that — after years of working and saving, it was gone.”
Then the blazes started.
“It’s a total loss,” Shah wrote. The couple had planned on retiring at the “perfect coastal home,” which boasted an ocean view, was dotted with peach and avocado trees, and was visited by deer, she said.
Since the wildfires broke out last week, Shah has been covering the wildfires and those impacted. But the devastation of the fires were also “personal,” she wrote.
“I have questions and demands: insurance companies need to give policyholders what we are owed,” she stated in her post. “The rebuilding process cannot take so long. Permitting offices appear to need far more staffing. It appears there may have been many preventable scenarios. There is a CA gubernatorial election in 2026, a presidential election and the LA Olympics in 2028. Politicians will need to show results - and fast.
“I’m determined to find answers. This journey is personal. I hope when people see me on TV or TikTok, they know they’re watching someone who saw her dream home turn to rubble — and is fighting to build it back again,” she concluded.
Speaking on the air on Tuesday, Shah told her network about her scorched home.
“My loss does not compare to other folks. We did not have a lifetime of belongings in this home. We did not have a lifetime of memories in this home,” she said.
The Palisades fire has grown to cover more than 23,000 acres since it erupted on January 7; more than a week out, it’s only 19 percent contained. Hours later, on January 7, slightly to the east, the Eaton fire erupted. It has since grown to span more than 14,000 acres and is just 45 percent contained as of Wednesday. The blazes have claimed more than two dozen lives and destroyed more than 12,000 structures.
On Tuesday, more than 88,000 people in Southern California remained under evacuation orders and an additional 84,000 remained under evacuation warnings, NBC Los Angeles reported.
As fire crews try to extinguish the blaze, Southern California could see fire tornadoes; due to a combination of high winds and very dry conditions, forecasters have warned that the area could face a “particularly dangerous situation,” a term used when violent tornadoes are possible.
