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:

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

Produced by NOVA

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:

• How to Disaster
• Learn more about After the Fire USA
• After the Fire USA Resource Library
• LA Rising Podcast with Kim Marshall
• Watch Duty App
• A Fire Story by Brian Fies
• Community Brigade Malibu
• Connect with Jennifer Gray Thompson on LinkedIn

Produced by NOVA: https://novapodcasting.com

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:

• How to Disaster
• Learn more about After the Fire USA
• After the Fire USA Resource Library
• LA Rising Podcast with Kim Marshall
• Watch Duty App
• Community Brigade Malibu
• Connect with Jennifer Gray Thompson on LinkedIn

Produced by NOVA