Climate journalist Bill McKibben and executive producer and former 60 Minutes producer David Gelber have teamed up to create Altadena: One Fire After Another, a documentary chronicling the aftermath of the 2025 Eaton Fire in Los Angeles.
Altadena: One Fire After Another (Credits: Variety)
The film follows Altadena residents as they confront the challenges of rebuilding their homes, preserving their community, and navigating the long road to recovery. While much of the initial coverage focused on the night the fire erupted, the documentary picks up the story more than a year later, when the cameras have gone and the hard work of rebuilding is still underway.
Altadena Documentary Follows Recovery More Than a Year After Eaton Fire
That longer view is the film’s defining choice. The Eaton Fire devastated Altadena in 2025, destroying homes and upending a community. By returning more than a year on, McKibben and Gelber aim to show what recovery actually looks like: the insurance battles, the rebuilding decisions, and the fight to keep a neighbourhood’s character intact when everything has to be rebuilt from scratch.
McKibben brings a climate journalist’s perspective to the story, while Gelber brings decades of experience from 60 Minutes, one of American television’s most respected news magazines. Together, they are framing Altadena’s story as both a local portrait and a wider warning about what fire-prone communities face in a warming world.
Why Altadena: One Fire After Another Matters
Documentaries about disasters often end when the flames go out. Altadena: One Fire After Another deliberately starts where most coverage stops, asking what happens to the people left behind once the headlines fade. For residents still rebuilding, and for audiences watching from elsewhere, that is the part of the story that matters most.
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Source: Variety — read the full story there.