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 h

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

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 ne

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 engineere

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 insuranc

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 pr