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:

• 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

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:

• How to Disaster
• Learn more about After the Fire USA
• After the Fire USA Resource Library
• Foothill Catalog Foundation
• Altadena Collective
• Connect with Jennifer Gray Thompson on LinkedIn

Produced by NOVA

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:

• How to Disaster
• Learn more about After the Fire USA
• After the Fire USA Resource Library
• Altadena Rising on Instagram
• Maui Rapid Response
• Cultural Fire Management Council
• Connect with Jennifer Gray Thompson on LinkedIn

Produced by NOVA