From staff writer Emily Belz: Sensitivity in reporting after a disaster like the LA fires includes representing a place in a way that locals feel is recognizable, even familiar. I don’t live in LA, but it’s vital for us reporters to get the small local details right in our stories, like how one neighborhood sits in relationship to another, or one firefighting agency with another. 

For our recent report on Pepperdine University’s water supply for fighting the fires, reporter Sebastian Rodriguez needed to get the technical details right to explain the water treatment system and its relationship to municipal agencies. Not many people would notice a wrong detail on water treatment systems, but the people featured in the story would.

When I wrote last week about the devastation spreading in Southern California, sources talked about ash seeping into the groundwater, referenced the popular fire app Watch Duty, and described the looming threat of the fires—all things I haven’t had to live with myself. 

Pastor Josh Lee in Paradise, California, told me the fear of fires is "something you can get numb to." It’s not an answer I would expect from someone who survived the worst wildfire in California’s history, but it helps me understand—and then, hopefully, write a story that is truer to the local situation.