Malibu Burning Audiobook By Robert Kerbeck cover art

Malibu Burning

The Real Story Behind LA's Most Devastating Wildfire

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Malibu Burning

By: Robert Kerbeck
Narrated by: Robert Kerbeck
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Malibu is known as an earthly paradise of multi-million-dollar mansions, movie stars, and unimaginable natural beauty. But all that changed on November 8, 2018.

Go deep behind the scenes of the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history. Alongside his wife and son, Robert Kerbeck battled the fire that threatened to take their home. He knows firsthand how the Malibu fires affected everyone - from the rich and famous to the firefighters who often risked their lives.

Blending investigative journalism and personal memoir, Malibu Burning brings you on the dramatic, life-threatening journey of real people fighting 2,000-degree flames to save entire neighborhoods.

By listening to this audiobook, you'll find out:

  • Ways how the massive blaze affected Julia Roberts, Bob Dylan, Nick Nolte, and other celebrities.
  • Real stories from hundreds of interviews with perspectives of locals ranging from the deputy fire chief and Malibu city council members to residents who fought to defend their homes.
  • People who survived this tragedy through courage, kindness, and unified cooperation.

This book takes you into the hearts and minds of those who fought for their lives while the world watched Malibu burning.

©2019 Robert Kerbeck (P)2019 Robert Kerbeck Americas Environment Natural Disasters Nature & Ecology Outdoors & Nature Science State & Local United States

Critic reviews

"An engrossing, thorough, and revealing portrait of a beloved beachside community confronting disaster.” (Kirkus Reviews)

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Malibu Burning By: Lee Goldberg
Compelling Account • Heroic Stories • Riveting Narrative • Personal Experiences • Insightful Research
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Great book! Exe
I had my own experience during the Woolsey Fire but what a learned from Robert Kerbeck’s book It’s mind bottling.
Many different interviews, many different angles, his own family experience....WOW!
Amazing work!

Wow!!!

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Very interesting book but what a horrible disaster! So many sad stories in this one little book. I can’t imagine enduring the losses and trauma these people had to deal with.

Very interesting

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This is a compelling account of the Woolsey fire in 2018 that will be of particular interest to persons near undeveloped land. During a wildfire, you should expect to lose water pressure and power. The biggest surprise for me is that during a large fire, you should not expect any assistance from the fire department. The author/narrator has a fine voice and is clear, but tries to add drama by pitching his voice higher and higher, which wore on me.

A dramatic account of a suburban wildfire

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Our family listened to this book during an 8-hour drive which flew by because we were enthralled by the stories being told! The narration was superb! A must read or listen for Malibu residents as well as for those curious about Malibu. The book reveals personal stories from the horrific day the fires came roaring down out of the canyons into Western Malibu! It brought back memories of our evacuation as the fire crested the hill above us. It also covers the history, the natural beauty and character of Malibu as well as the events surrounding the Woolseyi Fire. I also brought the book to add to my Woolsey Fire collection. - Mary Rose Rodgers-Patucci

A Riveting Must Listen and Read!

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A true, bone-chilling, behind-the-scenes look into the devastating Woolsey Fire in November 2018. Each story was more shocking than the next. So many great stories of heroism and altruism. Kerbeck tells the story of his almost-deadly fight against the beast that was the Malibu fire, as well as other unfathomable stories of residents and non-residents all fighting to save their homes, animals and their beautiful town of Malibu.

Behind The Scenes of Devastation

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Malibu Burning is the untold story of the Woolsey Fire that devastated parts of LA and Malibu last year. Robert Kerbeck shares his own personal experience fighting the fire along with his wife Gardia and son Davis, in a manner that only someone who lived through it can. The story is moving and riveting and is hard to put down at times (well in my case stop listening to). I can imagine that reading the book is also excellent, however, in my opinion, listening to Robert tell the story of his own battle has to elevate the experience. In addition to his own personal experience, it’s the back story of all the research he has done with so many others who lived through this horrible tragedy that truly makes this a special book. I highly recommend this book to all of you.

Epic true Story about bravery and courage…

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Sad at how ill prepared the city of Malibu was for the last wildfire and is for the next wildfire. It is a beautiful area and this book explains all the diverse problems.

Enlightening , and upsetting.

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As the Palisades Fire burned in early 2025, I heard Robert Kerbeck interviewed on KNX AM radio and he mentioned this book. My Liberty Canyon home was mere feet from the flames of the Woolsey fire. It intrigued me to learn that many of the same mistakes made in the Woolsey fire, which had contributed to it quickly raging out of control, were the same factors that led to the devastating progression of the Palisades fire. This book is full of tales of great heroism and people coming together as well as cautionary tales that everyone living in Southern California or other fire-prone or disaster-prone areas can learn from. Highly recommend.

We really need to learn from mistakes

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Not only did I purchase a hardcopy of the book, I downloaded it from audible to "read" it again. With its opening chapter, this book gets a grip on you. From that moment on, the book never lets go - a real page-turner. Simply put, once you commit to reading this, be warned: Once you start, you can’t put it down. It remains steadfastly a delightful read from beginning, though middle, to end. Even its organization is fascinating – presenting a series of vignettes covering different sets of real people in different neighborhoods – with each piece intensely focusing on each participant’s specific experience and the unique ways in which he or she dealt with the devastatingly tragic Woolsey Fire. So, like a series of independent adventure tales tied together around a central theme, the only difference here is that each of adventures really happened.

To be honest, the book was quite a surprise for me – a veritable eye-opener. Admittedly and, I’m afraid self-centeredly, I was initially drawn to the book solely because I wanted to see how the author dealt with the story of Engine 271, the subject matter of Chapter 2. Having been a call firefighter assigned to that engine, my Woolsey experience was different from other people’s experiences. I had been confined to the Corral Canyon neighborhood of Malibu throughout and after the fire. Dealing with my own hell, and cutoff from the rest of the world, I had no idea what was happening in the rest of Malibu and beyond. So the book opened up an entire panorama that had been unseen by me, and that had been otherwise unknown to me. Because of this book, I first learned how other residents in the other neighborhoods experienced the same fire and faced down flame lengths that at times could exceed 100 feet and carried temperatures of over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

One of the many things I liked about the book was how it pierced the the veil of perceived glitz and glamor to shine a light on the true face of Malibu. Still rustic and stubbornly holding on to its frontier-town vibe, not everyone in Malibu is a stereotypical botoxed vapid celeb. With each vignette, the reader is treated to a real, down-to-earth person and gets to experience the fire though his or her eyes. By the end of each chapter, I felt like I knew each and every one of them. I felt close to them, and thus closer to “my” Malibu. The book also raises the tough questions of how the city and the fire department handled the Woolsey Fire. The book creates the space for compassion, healing, and points a path forward to prepare for the next catastrophic fire, which, with utmost certainty, will happen. If you’re looking for an intense, well-written page-turner, look no further. This is your book.

An intense, well-written page-turner.

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Malibu Burning is both insightful and heartbreaking. A small group of people that came together to battle a wildfire on their own as they fought to save neighbor’s homes and their own, as well as animals. We see a behind the scenes look at what it was like for the homeowner heroes who stayed and felt all alone when they asked for help from fire fighters and turned down because of bureaucratic jargon. Malibu Burning is told eloquently and passionately through the author’s first hand experience and his interviews.
An amazing book!

A Must Read!

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