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Our guest this week is Silvio Lanzas, the former Fire Chief for the City of Glendale, and the current Chief Operating Officer for the fire retardant manufacturer M-Fire. The company produces and applies a product called AF31 that is water-based and food-grade, and can be sprayed on houses, car batteries, and whole forests. It was invented more than 30 years ago in the UK, it’s made in Torrance, California, and it’s widely used throughout Asia. So why does no one know about it here in wildfire-ravaged California? It might have to do with the dominance in the marketplace of Phos-Check, the red stuff we’ve all seen flowing out of aircraft over wildfires. But Lanzas is trying to change that…one construction site, one EV battery and one house at a time.

Resources:

• M-Fire Technologies
• M-Fire Suppression
• Questions about AF31? Email asklanzas@mfiretechnologies.com

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Five months after the Eaton Fire came charging out of the wildland and destroyed much of the historic city of Altadena, there are still hundreds of families who haven’t been able to return home or start the long process of recovering. This week’s guest says there is a correlation between a family’s insurance carrier, and their ability to recover their lives and rebuild their futures. Joy Chen is a former Deputy Mayor of Los Angeles, and the current CEO of the Multicultural Leadership Institute. But these days, she dedicates much of her time to the organization she co-founded, the Eaton Fire Survivors’ Network, and trying to get the insurance industry to pay out on the hundreds of claims coming from survivors. She believes there is a systematic approach of “delay, deny, discourage and underpay.”   She and others in the Eaton Fire Survivors’ Network are pressuring California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to investigate the claims process and freeze any proposed rate hikes. The details of her group’s mission are detailed in this week’s episode.

Resources:

• Eaton Fire Survivors’ Network
• Join Eaton Fire Survivors’ Network Discord
• Letter to California Insurance Commission Ricardo Lara
• New York Times Insurance Survey
• Sign up for Eaton Fire Survivors’ Network June 19th Podcast on Insurance Fraud
• Lawsuit Against Insurers

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The second half of our conversation with Jon Brown brings him out of the ashes of the Palisades Fire, and right into a property fight with the owners of the mobile home park where he lived with his wife and two young kids. The Palisades Bowl was one of the last rent controlled neighborhoods in Los Angeles, and when the Palisades Fire swept through, nearly 400 people were left homeless. Those neighbors have come together to create the Palisades Bowl Community Partnership, to try and get recovery underway, with the final mission to rebuild the Park. Unfortunately, owners of the Park haven’t exactly been proactive, or even responsive. Jon discusses with host Cameron Barrett the road ahead, and how he and his neighbors might even try to buy the Bowl and rebuild their lives.

Resources:

• Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Home Park
• Jon Brown Real Estate

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Jon Brown is one of the 400 residents of the Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Home Park that no longer has a neighborhood to go home to. All 170+ homes are gone, flattened by the Palisades Fire. Jon joins host Cameron Barrett for a two-part conversation about how he and his young family escaped the fire. But Jon’s story is bigger than just running from the fire. In fact, the fire was just the beginning of his fight. Jon’s story is one of resilience, leadership, and a relentless commitment to his neighbors. Across two episodes, he shares the emotional and logistical challenges of rebuilding after disaster, the fight against negligent property owners, and the power of a united community working together to return home. Part I is Jon’s survival story. Part II (available April 4th) is about the power of a united community working together to return home.

Resources:

• Pacific Palisades Bowl Mobile Home Estates
• Jon Brown Real Estate

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Cameron Barrett’s guest this episode of Sean Scott, a contractor by trade, and the author of a book you want to get on your shelf as soon as possible. The Red Guide to Recovery is a spiral bound Bible for homeowner who is navigating a disaster, whether that’s something as personal a a burst pipe, or as catastrophic as the Eaton or Palisades Fires. It’s even a terrific resource for those who want to prepare for a potential disaster. MySafe:LA, and fire departments all over North America, have been handing out the book to survivors for more than a decade. Here’s the guide you’ve been waiting for to navigate insurance, avoid scams, clean up safely and much more.

Resources:

• The Red Guide to Recovery Website
• The Red Guide to Recovery on Amazon
• Secrets of the Insurance Game
• NFPA’s Most Home Fires Result from 5 General Causes
• Matterport Scan

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So much has been written and said about the Palisades Fire, that it sometimes is confounding how the “other” fire that burned through a community in LA County in early January, goes unmentioned. The Eaton Fire started within hours of the Palisades Fire. It came roaring out of Eaton Canyon, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, just 20 miles northeast of downtown LA, and destroyed thousands of homes and killed 17 people. That’s more death and destruction than the Palisades Fire. It leveled much of Altadena, a storied city filled with a century of African American history. The area had been a welcome home for Black professionals and creatives. The McFarland Family was among them. They lost everything in the fire. Pastor Anthony McFarland and his daughter Jessica Fernandez talk to host Cameron Barrett about their harrowing evacuation and survival. They have a lot of questions now that the fire is out, and are looking for answers. Hear their remarkable story on Rebuild:LA.

Resources:

• Eaton Fire Disaster Recovery
• History of Altadena
• Eaton Fire Damage Maps
• Abundant Harvest Christian Center
• Parlee Inc

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Jim Kniss makes his living flying over wildfires, making GIS and infrared maps for firefighters. It's all pretty cutting edge technology. But what he's most passionate about is a little more old school. He's working to get Beacon Boxes into rural neighborhoods in fire-prone areas of California. He and the team at FireMapper, LLC have already installed dozens in Beverly Hills, Agoura Hills and Malibu, with more going in to Chatsworth, Bell Canyon and Malibu Lake. Beacon Boxes are like old-timey fireboxes from the last century, but with some very high tech tools inside. Kniss sits down with host Cameron Barrett to talk about what's in Beacon Boxes, why every rural community in California needs them, and who accessed them in Malibu during the Palisades Fire. Spoiler Alert - no one knows! But maybe you can help us find out.

Resources:

• FireMapper, LLC
• Beacon Boxes

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Dr. Chris Potter calls it VERM, or vegetation ember index. He’s an earth scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, and he’s developed a new mapping product that shows VERM areas. And VERM areas are those places most vulnerable to fire. In other words, he and his research team are predicting the next place a destructive wildfire will strike. The product is free because it’s produced by NASA and paid for with federal tax dollars. But like so many scientific initiatives funded by the federal government, there’s a chance it will soon hit the chopping block. Dr. Potter sits down with host Cameron Barrett to talk about the VERM maps, what we can learn from them, and how we can use them to mitigate a wildfire before it even starts. 

Resources:

• NASA's Ames Research Center
• NASA
• Ember Risk Modeling

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Monday, March 31, 2025 (an extended date) is an important deadline if you’ve been effected by the Eaton or Palisades fires. That’s when you have to register for FEMA benefits if you’ve had losses. It’s also the deadline to register for SBA loans from the Federal Government. These are the kinds of details Joel Wish and his disaster recovery experts make sure their clients don’t miss. He’s the founder and CEO of Bright Harbor, a disaster recovery company based in Austin, Texas. He started the company two years ago, and it’s busier than ever. That’s because disasters are coming more frequently and more destructively than ever before. Host Cameron Barrett sat down with Wish to find out more about what survivors of the Eaton and Palisades Fires need to be managing right now as we enter the recovery phase of the most destructive fires in California history.

Resources:

• Bright Harbor
• FEMA Disaster Assistance
• SBA Loans

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Sue Pascoe, her husband, and their two dogs evacuated the Palisades Fire on January 7, 2025 with a couple of overnight bags and the dogs' food bowls. They'd evacuated plenty of times before. This would be like the last few times. They'd be back home the next day. But by the next day, her home was gone. Like thousands of other families, the Pascoes lost everything. Sue is a journalist for the online newspaper Circling the News. Her press credentials got her inside the barricades before the public was given access. What she saw, and what she learned in her reporting has made her very angry. Her story is eye opening and wrenching.

Resources:

• Circling the News
• KTLA's News Story "Firefighters kept from front lines due to unserviced LAFD vehicles"
• How Much Will It Cost to Rebuild Los Angeles?
• FEMA Assistance for those Effected by the Wildfires 

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Nearly two months after wildfires swept through the communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena, the dust and ash have settled. People are now taking stock of what they have and whether they’ll be able to rebuild. Can they afford what they once had? Should they build back bigger? Smaller? Should they build back at all?

In this episode we talk to homebuilding innovator Alexis Rivas. He’s the CEO and co-founder of Cover, a company that has revolutionized pre-manufactured homes here in LA County. He talks with Cameron Barrett about everything from more fire resistant building materials to the latest attempt by the LA County Board of Supervisors to rethink state laws about ADUs. It’s a wide-ranging, fact-loaded discussion on how best to rebuild LA.

Resources:

• Cover
• LA County ADU Permitting
• LA County says state housing laws stand in way of rebuilding. Advocates disagree.

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The National Fire Protection Association has been creating fire code in American since the late 1800's. We have the NFPA to thank for fire sprinklers in apartment buildings and fire doors in high rise buildings. In the 1980's, the NFPA realized that wildfires were igniting in unusual places in North America, and they decided to do something about it. They wanted to "out-think wildfires." Firewise USA was born. And it's why their Wildfire Division Director, Michele Steinberg, toured surviving homes in the Palisades and Eaton burn scars. Cameron Barrett had a wide-ranging discussion with Steinberg, and found out some reasons why there are still houses standing in Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

Resources:

• National Fire Protection Association
• Firewise USA Toolkit
• MySafe:LA Wildfire Home Inspection Request Form

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In this week’s Episode host Cameron Barrett interviews software developer Jason Brooks who took his experience surviving the Tubbs Fire that destroyed Santa Rose in 2017, as inspiration to design an app that has helped more than a million people make their homes safer from wildfire. Brooks’ app, Fire Aside, is now being used by dozens of municipalities in more than half a dozen states to streamline brush inspections, home hardening and defensible space education and fire prevention efforts. Hear how the app works, and how even Fire Safe Councils and Homeowners’ Associations are leveraging Fire Aside in the fight against wildfires.

Resources:

• Fire Aside
• Chipper Days
• Marin County's Close Call

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5,000 Los Angeles school children were affected by the Palisades and Eaton Fires. That's a lot of kids who either lost their homes, or their schools, or both. Cameron Barrett asks licensed children and family therapist Chloe Canton to help explain the trauma kids are going through right now, how to spot the warning signs of children in crisis, and what we can do to help kids through this unprecedented time. 

Resources:

• Pro Bono List of Therapists
• Chloe Canton
• Aveson School
• Westside Waldorf
• Schools Lost in the Eaton Fire

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Rich Thompson is an incident meteorologist (IMET) with the National Weather Service, which means he predicts weather during disasters to help first responders during the active phase of an incident. He was on the ground during the Palisades Fire and describes the conditions in early January as a "once in a career" weather event. He chatted with Cameron Barrett about what his experience was like at the Command Post of the Palisades Fire and how his forecasts directed firefighters and air assets during the fire fight.

Resources:

• National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) - https://www.noaa.gov/
• National Weather Service LA/Oxnard - https://www.weather.gov/lox/
• A Day in the Life of an IMET - https://www.weather.gov/news/imet-article

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Councilmember John Lee of Los Angeles' CD #12 sits down with Cameron Barrett to talk about his district's recovery efforts in the wake of the January fires, how he plans on managing the independent investigation into the Palisades Fire as the head of the Public Safety Committee, and so much more in this episode of Rebuild:LA.

Resources:

• Councilmember John Lee - https://cd12.lacity.gov/about/about-john-lee
• Investigations in the Palisades Fire - https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-02-06/full-coverage-california-wildfires-2025-investigations
• Committee Assignments in LA City Council - https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/clk/CommitteeAssignments.pdf
• Council District 12 map - https://cd12.lacity.gov/about/council-district-12

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Eunisses Hernandez is the Councilmember representing District #1 in the City of Los Angeles. Her constituents live miles from both the Palisades and the Eaton Fires. No one in Council District #1 lost a home to fire. But many have lost jobs, employers, and even clean air to breathe.

Host Cameron Barrett sits down with Hernandez to discuss the ripple effects of the fires that have reached all the way to Council District #1 and how Hernandez is responding.

Resources:

• Map of Council District #1: https://advocacy.assets.support2.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/CD1_Eunisses-Hernandez.jpg
• Guaranteed Wage Motion: https://cd1.lacity.gov/press-releases/councilmember-hernandez-introduces-legislation-support-workers-and-small-businesses
• Rent Gauging in the Wake of the Fires: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/real-estate/2025/01/14/la-fires-price-gouging-illegal/77672038007/
• Red Flag Restricted Parking in Los Angeles: https://ers.lafd.org/redflag/

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We mark the month anniversary of the January firestorms with our first survivor story. Cameron Barrett sat down with retired Superior Court Judge, Justice Tricia Bigelow. She barely had time to evacuate her Pacific Palisades home, but was chased from two more places she had gone to seeking shelter, as the Palisades Fire kept advancing.

This is her incredible story.

Resources:

• Make A Kit - https://vimeo.com/160316898
• Ready, Set, Go - https://www.wildfirela.org

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Greg Doyle has been shooting photographs of wildfires for the last 12 years. His works has been featured in fire magazines and websites, including www.wildfirela.org. It's safe to say that in those 12 years, Greg has never been as busy as he has been this past January. In fact, the last four months have seen him driving all over Southern California, documenting some of the most destructive wildfires this region has ever seen.

Cameron Barrett talks with Greg about his days covering the fires, how he stays safe, when he puts the camera down to help people, and what he hopes the future holds for Los Angeles.

Resources:

• Wildfire:LA - https://www.wildfirela.org/
• Hughes Lake Boat Launch Burns - https://vimeo.com/1054022421

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When homeowners who lost everything in the Eaton and Palisades Fires called their insurance companies, some of them had a rude awakening, adding more misery to families who had already lost nearly everything they owned. What happens when you lose your home to wildfire? Do you have enough insurance? Can you even get enough insurance in California in 2025? What about your mortgage? Do you still need to pay for a house that no longer exists? And if you still have a home, what can you do to lower your risks and your insurance payments. Cameron Barrett interviews Real Estate Broker and community resilience expert Pat Hanley in this episode of Rebuild:LA.

Resources:

• California Association of Realtors
  https://www.car.org/
• Ventura Regional Fire Safe Council
  https://venturafiresafe.org/
• Team Rubicon
  https://teamrubiconusa.org/
• Home Hardening
  https://www.wildfirela.org/home-hardening/
• Defensible Space
  https://www.wildfirela.org/defensible-space/
• California Fire Safe Council
  https://www.wildfirela.org/fire-safe-councils/

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Linnea Edmeier sits down with host Cameron Barrett, to bring us her story from thousands of feet above the Palisades Fire. Edmeier is the Public Information Officer for CAL FIRE's Aviation Unit, and was deployed to the Palisades Fire. There she recorded the conflagration, keeping tabs on the dozens of flights in the air night and day as thousands of firefighters battled one of the most deadly and destructive wildfires in California history.

Hear how she worked through fatigue, 100 mph wind gusts and illegal drone flights to support the firefight.

Resources:

• CAL FIRE Aviation - https://www.fire.ca.gov/what-we-do/fire-protection/aviation-program
• LAFD Air Ops - https://lafd.org/about/special-operations/air-operations
• Drone Laws in Los Angeles - https://drone-laws.com/drone-laws-in-la/

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For the last 30 years, Madeline Bernstein has been fighting the good fight to help rescue, shelter, and find forever homes for the pets of Los Angeles. She is the president of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
During the Palisades Fire in January 2025, Madeline evacuated twice. Each time she quickly gathered her belongings, and her most beloved companions - two hibernating desert tortoises! They are the last two survivors of a once large menagerie of pets, and there was no way she was leaving them behind.
In this episode of Rebuild:LA, Madeline tells host Cameron Barrett how she prepared to evacuate, what she did to prepare looooong in advance of the emergency, and how you can do the same thing to help assure the safety of the pets in your life.

Resources:

• SPCA LA - https://spcala.com/
• MySafe:LA Pet Safety - https://www.mysafela.org/pet-safety/
• Downloadable Pet Safety Kit List - https://www.mysafela.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/PetEmergencySafety_LA.pdf

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In the first episode of the Safe Community Project's Rebuild:LA, we talk with MySafe:LA Executive Officer David Barrett about how his non-profit is helping HOAs, neighborhoods and individual homeowners find ways to make their houses safer from wildfires. As Los Angeles begins to rebuild in the wake of the Palisades and Eaton Fires, MySafe:LA is offering a path forward to make communities more resilient. Best of all, it's free!

For free home wildfire inspections:
213-634-0100
https://www.wildfirela.org/

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In 2020 California passed AB 3074, which established Zone Zero - an ember-resistant zone within five feet of homes in High and Very High Fire Severity Zones (HFHSZ and VHFHSZ). The law was never implemented because the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection needed to identify exactly what would be allowed and not allowed in Zone Zero. Two things have happened recently. 1. The Board of Forestry and Fire Protection released new maps that have expanded the HFHSZ and VHFHSZ. 2. In the wake of the January Firestorms, Governor Newsom issued an executive order requiring the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to finalize rule-making and implement Zone Zero.

What does this mean for homeowners in Los Angeles? We have the answers, and they might not be what you want to hear. Our expert guest this week is Travis Longcore, a UCLA Adjunct Professor and Co-Chair of the Environmental Science and Engineering Program at the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability, as well as a 28-year member of the Los Angeles County Environmental Review Board. And what he tells host Cameron Barrett about the proposed rules around Zone Zero are surprising...to say the least!

Resources:

• Is Your Home in a HFHSZ and VHFHSZ?
• Board of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Proposed Zone Zero Rules
• Register for Updates on Future Zone Zero Meetings with the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection

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This week’s guest is a thought leader and non-profit founder Spencer Glendon, who we met last week in part one of our discussion on how climate change is making our lives riskier, and forcing us to rethink where and how we live. The Palisades and Eaton Fires are just two examples of that increased risk. Glendon brings his expertise in Engineering, and Economics, as well as his experience as an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School and a Senior Fellow at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, to the conversation. He and host Cameron Barrett began their discussion last week with the history of our climate. This week they drill down to what climate change means for Southern California and how rebuilding LA requires some forethought, some big conversations, and some community building.

Resources:

• Probable Futures
• The 2025 Equinoxes Essay
• The History of Risk Markets and Urban Fires
• Fortune article on Fire Insurance
• Harvard Business School article on the LA Fires

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This week’s guest is a thought leader taking on the daunting task of teaching people about climate change and how best to adapt to it. Spencer Glendon is the founder of Probable Futures, a non-profit that is helping businesses and communities understand that our weather is no longer something we can rely on, but instead is causing increased risk to our safety. The Palisades and Eaton Fires are just two examples of that increased risk. Glendon brings his expertise in Engineering, and Economics, as well as his experience as an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School and a Senior Fellow at the Woodwell Climate Research Center, to the conversation. He and host Cameron Barrett start this two part discussion with the last 100,000 years of weather and human development, and end in next week’s part two of the conversation, discussing = what we need to do today in the wake of our twin climate disasters - the Palisades and Eaton Fires - to rebuild LA.

Resources:

• Probable Futures
• The 2025 Equinoxes Essay
• The History of Risk Markets and Urban Fires
• Fortune article on Fire Insurance
• Harvard Business School article on the LA Fires

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Dante Cornejo is MySafe:LA’s wildfire coordinator for Los Angeles County and is host Cameron Barrett’s guest this week. Dante has done assessments on hundreds of homes as part of his work, evaluating the wildfire risk of residences all over the County.  In this episode, he talks about those assessments, and list things you can do today, even if you don’t have a lot of time or money, to make yourself, your family and your home, safer.

Resources:

• MySafe:LA
• Wildfire:LA
• California Fire Safe Council
• NFPA's Firewise USA
• Home Hardening How Tos
• Defensible Space

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When the Palisades Fire ripped through Los Angeles, the Department of Recreation and Parks got to work on myriad fronts. Park Rangers, who are actually trained in wildland firefighting, battled dozens of smaller spot fires in parks all over the city that day. Rec and Parks facilities re-invented themselves as evacuation sites and shelters for displaces residents. And two equestrian centers took in more than 550 horses (along with a few donkeys and some larger pigs). Rec and Parks might seem like the city department that fixes playgrounds and cleans pools, but they’re much more than that. They suffered losses during the Palisades Fire, they cared for hundreds of people and animals, and they’ve come out on the other end of the fire, helping rebuild not only park facilities, but whole communities. Cameron Barrett’s guest is Department of Recreation Assistant General Manager Brenda Aguirre.

Resources:

• LA City Department of Recreation and Parks
• LA Stables Turn Into Noah’s Ark
• Palisades Fire Emergency Shelter
• Griffith Observatory’s 90th Anniversary Celebration
• Palisades Recreation Center

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Months after the Palisades and Eaton Fires swept through Los Angeles County, many people are still struggling emotionally. So much so, that California Assemblymember John Harabedian has introduced legislation that would require insurance companies, as part of disaster claims, to cover up to 12 sessions with a mental health professional. This week, we talk to Dr. Veronica Viesca about that struggle. She is a Marriage and Family Therapist, an Assistant Professor at Pepperine University, and the founder of the Center for Mental Health Excellence. She joins host Cameron Barrett to discuss how the mental health of individuals says a lot about the community as a whole, and how a phenomenon called post-traumatic growth, is building resilience across the community.

Resources:

• Center for Mental Health Excellence
• Pro Bono Mental Health Providers
• Spectrum News Piece of  Mental Health After the Fires
• Assemblymember John Harabedian - District 41

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For 30 years, the aerial firefighters of Quebec have had an agreement with California. When we call for help, they come. Pascal Duclos is the Chief Pilot of an elite firefighting force called the Quebec Scoopers. They fly a unique aircraft, the CL415, which was designed and built in Canada to do one thing - drop water on wildfires. And that's exactly what Duclos and his team did during the Palisades Fire. He says he learned one thing fighting that urban conflagration in 100 mph wind gusts - that nature is stronger than we are. He joins host Cameron Barrett to talk about the Palisades Fire, his highly-skilled brand of firefighting, climate change, and more.