How to Disaster

17. The Little Things That Help a Community Recover with Mark Pestrella

Los Angeles County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella joins Jennifer Gray Thompson to talk about what disaster recovery looks like from inside one of the country’s largest and most complex public systems.

Drawing from both his professional role and his own experience of being displaced by fire, Mark explains why rebuilding depends on far more than permits and infrastructure. They discuss trust, coordination, community voice, mental health, and the small signs of normalcy that can matter deeply after disaster.

The conversation offers a closer look at how public servants can help create more certainty while still giving communities agency over what comes next.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

1h 27m - Sep 4, 2026

16. From Fire Survivor to Recovery Leader: Paul Lowenthal on the Lessons Communities Carry Forward

Paul Lowenthal has spent years responding to wildfire from both sides: as a fire service professional and as someone who lost his own home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire.

In this conversation, he and Jennifer Gray Thompson look at what Santa Rosa learned while rebuilding, why experienced recovery leaders matter, and how those lessons have been carried into communities from Maui to Los Angeles.

They also talk about the relationships behind effective mutual aid, the importance of preparing new leaders, and what it means to show up for another community with both technical knowledge and lived experience.

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Produced by NOVA

1h 18m - Aug 28, 2026

15. Community-Led Recovery: Leadership Lessons from Maui with Richard Bissen

Mayor Richard Bissen reflects on leading Maui through the immediate response and long recovery following the August 2023 fires.

He shares why listening, community meetings, trusted local advisers, and careful preparation have shaped the county’s approach to rebuilding Lahaina. The conversation also explores the tension between urgency and safety, the importance of protecting communities from outside interests, and why recovery must restore people and culture, not only structures.

In “Kim on the Street,” Lahaina Brewing Company founder Mary Anderson shares how cooperation and community support helped her business find a way forward after the fire.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

1h 39m - Aug 7, 2026

14. The Art of Recovery: Turning Loss Into Leadership in Altadena with Aloe Blacc

In this episode of How to Disaster, Jennifer speaks with American singer and songwriter Aloe Blacc about the Eaton Fire, its impact on his family, and the community of Altadena that he has worked to support in its aftermath. He reflects on evacuating during extreme winds, seeing places his children knew and loved damaged by the fire, and carrying both personal grief and a growing responsibility to speak up for others.

They also explore the role of art in recovery, from music and songwriting gatherings to the ways creative expression can help people process loss and imagine a future together. Aloe shares what makes Altadena so special, why its history and relationships matter, and how staying rooted in community can offer hope during a long recovery.

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Produced by NOVA

1h 13m - Jul 24, 2026

13. Why Relationships Matter When Disaster Hits with Renae Hanvin and Dr. Daniel P. Aldrich

In this episode of How to Disaster, Jennifer speaks with Renae Hanvin and Dr. Daniel P. Aldrich about why relationships are one of the strongest foundations of disaster resilience and recovery. Together, they explain social capital in plain language: the connections, trust, and cooperation that help communities prepare, respond, and rebuild.

The conversation looks at how these ties can be measured, mapped, and supported before disaster strikes, not only after. It also offers a grounded reminder that recovery is not just about roads, buildings, or systems. It is also about the people, places, and everyday connections that help a community come back.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

1h 22m - Jul 17, 2026

12. What Recovery Requires From Local Government with Tennis Wick

In this episode of How to Disaster, Jennifer Gray Thompson talks with Tennis Wick, former Permit Sonoma Building Department Director, about what local government becomes after a megafire. Drawing from Sonoma County’s 2017 fires, Tennis reflects on the early chaos, the emotional weight carried by public servants, and the responsibility of serving people who have lost nearly everything.

Together, Jennifer and Tennis discuss why disaster recovery cannot be measured only by permits, dashboards, or houses rebuilt. They explore the importance of compassion inside bureaucratic systems, from creating separate spaces for fire survivors to helping people move through permitting with dignity, patience, and care.

The conversation also looks at leadership across Sonoma County, Maui, and Los Angeles, including the role of elected officials, block captains, mutual aid, and community trust. Tennis offers a grounded view of what recovery asks of local government: honesty, humility, creativity, and a willingness to solve problems instead of only naming barriers.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

1h 14m - Jul 11, 2026

11. Rebuilding Altadena After the Eaton Fire

In this episode of How to Disaster, Jennifer speaks with Alex Athenson of the Foothill Catalog Foundation and Chris Corbett of Altadena Collective about rebuilding after the Eaton Fire.

Both guests bring an architectural lens to recovery, but their work begins with survivors, community identity, and the emotional weight of coming home. Together, they explore how thoughtful design, pre-approved plans, community listening, and practical support can make rebuilding more affordable, more humane, and less overwhelming.

This conversation offers a grounded look at what it takes to rebuild not just houses, but trust, belonging, and hope.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

1h 22m - Jul 4, 2026

10. Two Communities. One Truth. | Ash Level & Nicole Huguenin

Ash Level is AN ATLADENA NATIVE AND the founder of Altadena Rising, an organisation born from the Eaton Fire that is focused on empowering survivors and filling the gaps that outside institutions consistently miss. Nicole Huguenin is part of Maui Rapid Response, a hub within a wider network of organisations that has been doing care at scale since the Lahaina fire and through four major storms since.

Both of them stepped into leadership not because they wanted to, but because their communities needed someone who actually knew them to stand up. Both are still going, long after the cameras moved on.

In this episode, Ash and Nicole join Jennifer Gray Thompson to talk about what emergent community-led recovery actually looks like from the inside: the historical distrust that shapes how their communities receive outside help, why institutional systems consistently fail the most vulnerable, how they navigate funders who want KPIs for work that cannot always be quantified, and what it costs personally to show up every day for people in the worst moments of their lives.

They also talk about Kuleana, the Hawaiian concept of collective responsibility to care for the land, family, and community, what it means to triage by trauma, why being a reliable narrator is the foundation of staying power, and what it looked like for Nicole to visit Altadena and finally begin processing grief she had been carrying since Lahaina.

This is a conversation about care, community, and what real recovery requires of the people who refuse to walk away.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

1h 17m - Jun 26, 2026

9. Fire-Resistant Wood, Forest Recovery, and What Comes Next with Tyler Freres

In this episode, Jennifer Gray Thompson speaks with Tyler Freres about what it can mean to rebuild with wood after a megafire. Tyler shares the story of his family’s long-standing timber business in Oregon’s Santiam Canyon, how the Beachie Creek Fire affected both the community and their forestland, and why the recovery of burned timber matters for local economies, land restoration, and future resilience.

The conversation also looks at mass timber and mass plywood panels, including how engineered wood can perform in fire, earthquakes, high wind events, and other hazards when it is designed thoughtfully. Tyler explains why many assumptions about wood, steel, concrete, and fire resistance are more complicated than they first appear, and how prefabricated wood systems can help buildings go up more efficiently.

Throughout the episode, Jennifer and Tyler return to a larger question: how do we care for forests, communities, and rebuilding in ways that are practical, ecologically responsible, and hopeful? Listeners will come away with a clearer understanding of forest management, fire-safe construction, and the possibility that beauty and resilience do not have to be treated as opposites.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

59m - Jun 19, 2026

8. What Disaster Leaves Behind: Brian Fies on Memory, Loss, and Recovery

In this episode of How to Disaster, Jennifer Gray Thompson speaks with cartoonist and author Brian Fies about A Fire Story, his graphic memoir about losing his home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire. Brian shares how the book began in the first days after the fire, when he was still trying to understand what had happened while also documenting it with the eyes of a storyteller.

Their conversation moves through the realities of disaster recovery: walking through a destroyed neighborhood, navigating insurance, rebuilding, accepting help, and learning what people actually need in the aftermath. Brian also reflects on the role of block captains, neighbors, local leadership, and the quiet ways communities begin to organize when everything familiar has been disrupted.

Jennifer and Brian also talk about memory, art, humor, grief, and the strange mix of loss and connection that can follow disaster. This episode offers a grounded look at what it means to survive, rebuild, and carry both the old life and the new one forward.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA: https://novapodcasting.com

1h 24m - Jun 13, 2026

7. Wildfire Recovery: Insurance, Community, and the Path Home | Jen Goodlin and Valerie Brown

A home can be rebuilt after wildfire and still be hard to keep if insurance becomes unaffordable or unavailable. Jennifer Gray Thompson talks with Jen Goodlin of Rebuild Paradise Foundation and Valerie Brown, an insurance and disaster recovery expert, about the long, complicated work of helping people get all the way home.

Together, they look at one of the biggest barriers in recovery: insurance, including why prepared homes are not always recognized by insurers and how communities can create practical pathways toward safer, more affordable rebuilding. Jen shares what Paradise has learned since the Camp Fire, from defensible space grants to rebuilding an entire town with a different understanding of risk. Valerie brings nearly two decades of disaster recovery experience, offering a clear view of how insurance, preparedness, and local leadership shape what recovery actually looks like on the ground.

The conversation also challenges the way recovery is often measured. Instead of reducing communities to housing percentages or comparisons between disasters, Jen and Valerie ask what it means to come back safer, more resilient, and more connected to the people and places being rebuilt.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

1h 22m - Jun 5, 2026

6. Ready Is the New Well: What the Data Says About Disaster, Resilience, and the Coming Culture Shift | Cecelia Girr

Cecelia Girr is Director of Cultural Strategy at Backslash, the cultural intelligence unit of Omnicom Advertising, and the author of Ready Is the New Well, a landmark report for the Global Wellness Institute on preparedness as a cultural movement. Kim Marshall is the host of LA Rising: Stories of Healing, Help, and Hope, a podcast born from the LA fires.

In this special double-hosted episode, Cecelia joins Jennifer Gray Thompson and Kim Marshall to talk about what the data actually shows: why extreme weather is no longer extreme, why the 2030s will be defined by resilience, and how preparedness has moved from the fringes of doomsday prepper culture into the mainstream.

They cover fear-based messaging and why it drives paralysis rather than action, Yale research showing that small acts of preparedness reduce anxiety and depression, the role of technology in democratising disaster readiness, the rise of disaster-literate social media creators and brands designing for emergencies, and why social connection turns out to be the strongest predictor of survival after a disaster. Jennifer also talks about the Watch Duty app, block captains, and the third way between paralysis and denial.

This is a conversation about culture, data, and what it actually looks like when a society decides to get ready.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

57m - May 29, 2026

5. Fire Survivors Are Being Left to Figure It Out: iO Wright on Building PostFire

Jennifer Gray Thompson speaks with Eaton Fire survivor, journalist, and PostFire co-founder iO Wright about what happens when a person loses their home and is suddenly forced to navigate a recovery system that is confusing, fragmented, and often hard to access. iO shares how he and his partner, Patty, turned their own experience of loss into PostFire, a revolutionary survivor-centered platform designed to offer clear, fact-checked, trauma-informed guidance for people rebuilding after fire.

Their conversation looks at the gaps survivors face around insurance, housing, FEMA, debris removal, donations, rebuilding costs, and information overload. It also explores why dignity, choice, and trusted communication matter so much after disaster, especially when people are exhausted and trying to make decisions that will shape the next several years of their lives.

At its heart, this episode is about what becomes possible when survivors are listened to, supported, and trusted as experts in their own recovery.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

1h 34m - May 22, 2026

4. We Threw Away Our Political Identities. Then We Started Getting Things Done. | Joel Pollak

Joel Pollak is a journalist, opinion editor at the California Post, and a Palisades Fire survivor, devoted husband and father of four whose home survived the fire but was badly smoke-damaged, and with four children, he and his wife had to fight the insurance company. They are still not home.

In this episode, Joel joins Jennifer Gray Thompson to talk about what it actually means to have a standing smoke damaged home, why it is in many ways harder to navigate than a total loss, and what the past year of fighting his insurance company has looked like from the inside.

They cover the moment Joel drove back into the fire zone with a press pass and found his house still standing, the neighbor he never identified who stretched the hose across his lawn and tried to save it on his behalf, the insurance company’s opening offer of $5,000 for the contents of a family home, the public adjuster who changed everything, the lead and arsenic in the soil that had to be trucked to Arizona, and the 35 day threat that nearly forced him to sell.

They also talk about what it took to bridge a significant political divide, why disaster recovery needs people from every side of the aisle, and what Joel saw when he visited Coffee Park in Santa Rosa and felt, for the first time, something like hope.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

59m - May 15, 2026

3. "We've Been Fighting Fire Wrong for 100 Years" - Ralph Bloemers on What the Fire Service Can't Tell You

Ralph Bloemers is an environmental law attorney, filmmaker, and storyteller whose work has taken him from burn landscapes in eastern Oregon to the halls of Congress and the screens of PBS. He is the co-creator, with filmmaker Trip Jennings, of Elemental and Weathered, two landmark films on fire, forests, and the communities living with both. In this episode, Ralph joins Jennifer Gray Thompson for a wide-ranging conversation about why fire is not the enemy, what it actually takes to protect a home, and how we change a culture that still doesn’t fully understand what it’s up against.

They cover the suppression era that set the West up for mega fires, the indigenous fire practices that were criminalized for generations and are only now being restored, the physics of ember storms and what mesh on your vents can actually do, why community-level ignition resistance matters more than any single home, the storytelling innovations, from reggae music videos to a cartoon of a house in a psychiatrist’s chair, that Ralph is using to make the prepare message actually land, and the policy and insurance battles that Jennifer and Ralph have fought side by side on behalf of fire survivors.

Ralph is one of the most original thinkers working in this space. This is a conversation worth your time.

Resources:

Produced by NOVA

1h 30m - May 8, 2026

2. They Said It Wasn’t His Lane. He Built It Anyway | John Mills of Watch Duty

John Mills is the co-founder and CEO of Watch Duty, a nonprofit emergency alerting app that gives civilians real-time wildfire intelligence drawn directly from first responder radio traffic. In this episode, John joins Jennifer Gray Thompson to talk about how Watch Duty was built, why it was necessary, and where it is headed.

They cover the problem Watch Duty was created to solve, how it scaled from a single county in Sonoma to all 50 US states, the harrowing experience of staying live and accurate during the LA fires, and what it means to build something disruptive in a space that does not always welcome disruption. John also speaks to the future of Watch Duty as it prepares to expand beyond wildfire into flooding and other natural disasters.

Resources:

How to Disaster
Download the Watch Duty app
Learn more about After the Fire USA
After the Fire USA Resource Library
Connect with Jennifer Gray Thompson on LinkedIn

Produced by NOVA

1h 26m - May 1, 2026

1. Why We Relaunched How to Disaster, and What Survivors Need Most

In this relaunch episode, Jennifer Gray Thompson explains why How to Disaster is returning now and what the show is here to offer people living through disaster and recovery.

She shares how After the Fire began, what the organization has learned from years of walking alongside fire-affected communities, and why recovery works better when people do not try to carry it alone. The episode also introduces the show’s larger mission: helping listeners feel less isolated, more informed, and better able to face what comes next.

Resources:

How to Disaster
Learn more about After the Fire USA
After the Fire USA Resource Library
Connect with Jennifer Gray Thompson on LinkedIn

Produced by NOVA

45m - May 1, 2026

029: Day 3 Closing Remarks

In this heartfelt closing session of the Wildfire Leadership Summit, Jennifer Gray Thompson reflects on the journey from disaster to recovery. She shares the powerful story of how communities across California, Oregon, and Hawaii have rebuilt after devastating wildfires—from Santa Rosa and Paradise to Greenville and Lahaina. With gratitude for her dedicated team, partners, and community leaders, Jennifer honors the progress made, the resilience of survivors, and the unbreakable spirit that drives recovery. A moving reminder that rebuilding is possible—together.

Connect with After The Fire USA:

Website: https://afterthefireusa.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfterTheFireUSA
X: https://twitter.com/AfterTheFireUSA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afterthefireusa/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atf3r
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuTefxZgWUJkDVoZGZQpxgQ

13m - Oct 13, 2025

028: Day 3 Closing Keynote: The Heart of Ohana: Leading with Hope Through Loss

A heartfelt address on Maui's wildfire recovery, community resilience, and rebuilding efforts, delivered by a local leader. The speaker reflects on the importance of community-led recovery, cultural preservation, emergency preparedness, and housing stability. Highlights include progress on rebuilding Lahaina, strengthening emergency management, and ensuring residents can return home. The talk closes with a personal ukulele performance celebrating Haleakalā, Maui's iconic mountain.

Connect with After The Fire USA:

Website: https://afterthefireusa.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfterTheFireUSA
X: https://twitter.com/AfterTheFireUSA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afterthefireusa/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atf3r
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuTefxZgWUJkDVoZGZQpxgQ

21m - Oct 13, 2025

027: Day 3 Tech Driven, People Centered

Join moderator Reva Feldman and an expert panel as they explore the role of technology in disaster response and recovery. Panelists include iO Wright, co-founder of Post Fire; John Mills CEO, Watch Duty; and Adrienne Heinz,Clinical Research Psychologist, VA National Center for PTSD and Stanford University School of Medicine. Learn how innovative tools like Watch Duty and Post Fire are helping communities access timely information, navigate recovery, and support mental health in the wake of disasters. The discussion highlights the importance of human-centered technology, partnerships, and equitable recovery for all survivors.

Connect with After The Fire USA:

Website: https://afterthefireusa.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AfterTheFireUSA
X: https://twitter.com/AfterTheFireUSA
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/afterthefireusa/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atf3r
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuTefxZgWUJkDVoZGZQpxgQ

43m - Oct 13, 2025