The UFC commentator and podcast host, 57, was unable to disguise his emotion as he opened up about the impact the devastating blazes have had on people close to him.
The hot, dry and windy climate in California is the ideal breeding ground for wildfires, allowing them to scorch thousands of acres of land within an extremely short space of time.
This year, thousands of Americans – including a string of celebrities – were forced to evacuate as several infernos raged across LA, destroying countless homes and killing at least 29 people.
The former TV star moved to Texas after raising a number of concerns about living in the City of Angels, including the strict Covid restrictions which California imposed during the pandemic.
But another major factor in his decision was that he didn’t want to run the risk of losing his home, or life, as a firefighter warned him that total devastation in LA hinges on the direction of the wind.
In an earlier episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, he revealed that an emergency responder had told him: “One day, it’s just going to be the right wind, and fire’s gonna start in the right place, and it’s going to burn through LA all the way to the ocean, and there’s not a f**king thing we can do about it.”
Rogan previously told how he had been evacuated from his home three times over the years and that he was ‘always waiting for the next fire’.
Joe Rogan was seen wiping away tears as he recalled what happened to his neighbours in 2018 (YouTube/PowerfulJRE)
It seems as though the New Jersey native is still on tenterhooks about the threat of the natural disaster, despite now living in Texas, as he became teary while discussing what happened to him seven years ago.
While sitting down with businessman Rick Caruso, who owns the real estate empire Caruso and has launched a non-profit to help people rebuild after the fires, he recalled how he was forced to flee his home in 2018.
While wiping away tears Rogan said: “Two of my neighbours lost their homes, and watching those folks cry in front of the rubble of where they lived… it’s just horrible.
“But they kept their lives. This was 2018, and you know some of them rebuilt.
“Two of the houses are still gone in my old neighbourhood. They never rebuilt, they just pulled out. They lose everything.”
He went on to point out that the Malibu mansion owned by Hollywood icon Mel Gibson had burnt down – which the actor found out while he was a guest on The Joe Rogan Experience.
“Mel Gibson lost books from the 1600s,” Rogan continued. “Mel is a very religious man and he collects these ancient, irreplaceable books.”
The podcast host added: “Then, of course, the loss of lives is horrifying. [This] is an issue that has plagued LA and California forever.”
Gibson previously said he was ‘ill at ease’ while chatting to Rogan on the podcast in early January, as he ‘knew his neighbourhood was on fire’.
“So I thought, ‘I wonder if my place is still there’,” the Braveheart legend said. “But when I got home, sure enough, it wasn’t there.
“I went home and I said to myself, well, at least I haven’t got any of those pesky plumbing problems anymore.”
