Rebuild:LA
When the firestorms of January 2025 raged through the Pacific Palisades and Altadena, they left nearly 30 people dead and historic destruction in their wake. Recovery will be a long, uphill road and rebuilding will take years and dedicated planning. This podcast takes a deep dive into the circumstances that led to the fires, how people can prepare for future wildfires - which are inevitable - and how Angeleños can come together to rebuild our beautiful city.
Rebuild:LA is the proud winner of the 2025 Award of Excellence from the Communicator Awards!
Episodes
45 episodes
Rebuild:LA Episode 045 - Finding Your Way Home with After the Fire’s Jennifer Gray Thompson
In 2017 Jennifer Gray Thompson found herself living in her car with her dogs after evacuating from the Tubbs Fire in Sonoma County. The experience made her feel alone, lost, and unable to navigate back to the life she had enjoyed before she cam...
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Season 3
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Episode 45
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46:05
Rebuild:LA Episode 044: Saving History from Wildfire with Headwater Economics’ Ryan Handy
The Palisades and Eaton Fires destroyed a lot of history. Will Rogers’s ranch home, Pasadena Waldorf School, Robert Bridges House, The Bunny Museum, Andrew McNally House, Theater Palisades, and The Zane Gray Estate are just a few of the thousan...
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Season 3
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Episode 44
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42:32
Rebuild:LA Episode 043 - A 50-Year Perspective on the January Firestorms with Chief Kim Zagaris of the Western Fire Chiefs’ Association
When you’ve been in the California fire service for 48 years, like Chief Kim Zagaris, you’re likely to take a long view of how we’re doing when it comes to wildfire response. Chief Z as many know him, was State Fire and Rescue Chief for the Sta...
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Season 3
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Episode 43
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40:07
Rebuild:LA Episode 042: There Aren’t Enough Firetrucks for Every House with the LA County Fire Department Community Brigade’s Brent Woodworth
There have always been people who have stayed behind to try to protect their homes during a wildfire. It happened in the Palisades and in Altadena this January. As always, there were varying results. Some claimed to have saved their homes and e...
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Season 3
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Episode 42
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49:44
Rebuild:LA Episode 041 - Forgotten Altadena with the Future Organization’s Aimery Thomas
This week social scientist Aimery Thomas of the Future Organization joins Cameron Barrett to talk about ARISE - Altadena Resident Impact Survey and Evaluation. It’s a report he and his partner compiled after they surveyed 1,200+ Altadena reside...
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Season 3
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Episode 41
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43:25
Rebuild:LA Episode 040 - It’s Been 8 Months. Now What? With Palisades Fire Survivor Kari Weaver
Our conversation this week is with Palisades Fire survivor Kari Weaver, who lost her home in the alphabet streets. It’s been 8 months since that windy, dry Tuesday morning, January 7, when the Palisades Fire started in the highlands. And it was...
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Season 2
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Episode 40
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43:49
Rebuild:LA Episode 039 - How New Legislation Will Help Victims of the LA Firestorms with CA Senator Ben Allen
California Senator Ben Allen is our guest this week, squeezing our interview into his jammed legislative schedule. Allen grew up in Santa Monica and represents California Senate District #24, which includes his hometown, as well as Malibu and t...
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Season 2
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Episode 39
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44:54
Rebuild:LA Episode 038 What Can We Do To Make Evacuations Work in the Next Wildfire with MySafe:LA’s David Barrett - Part II
The death toll from the January Firestorms has climbed to 31 with the discovery in late June of the remains of Juan Francisco Espinoza, a 74-year-old man who didn’t escape the Eaton Fire when it raged through Altadena. The discovery of yet anot...
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Season 2
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Episode 38
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38:14
Rebuild:LA Episode 037 Why Didn’t Evacuation Plans Work in the Palisades and Eaton Fires with MySafe:LA’s David Barrett - Part I
This week is the first half of another conversation we’re stretching over two episodes, and that’s because of the complexity of what we’re discussing - evacuation. Why didn’t it work in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena when wildfires raged th...
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Season 2
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Episode 37
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25:24
Rebuild:LA Episode 036 - How Difficult Is It to Harden Your Home? We Asked Two Fire Chiefs How They Hardened Their Own
This week Cameron Barrett sits down with two Fire Chiefs who have just completed projects in their respective homes to give them the best chance of making it through a wildfire. Chief Frank Bigelow is CAL FIRE’s Deputy Director of Community Wil...
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41:59
Rebuild:LA Episode 035 CAL FIRE’s Uphill Battle with Zone Zero with State Fire Marshal Chief Daniel Berlant - Part II
Part II of our conversation with State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant finds us tackling one of the most contentious topics in wildfire prevention - Zone Zero. The state is still trying to define exactly what Zone Zero will entail, but homeowners a...
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Season 2
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Episode 35
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33:10
Rebuild:LA Episode 034 How Is CAL FIRE “Treating” Our Wildland with State Fire Marshal Chief Daniel Berlant - Part I
This week is the first of a two-part conversation with State Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant. He leads the wildfire prevention and preparedness efforts for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). California is home to ...
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Season 2
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Episode 34
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26:32
Rebuild:LA Episode 033 - What Would You Pack If A Wildfire Was On Your Doorstep with MySafe:LA’s Chris Nevil
It’s been six months since the firestorms of January tore through the communities of Pacific Palisades and Altadena. The worst wildfire disaster in Los Angeles history, the Palisades Fire killed 12 people, destroyed 6,837 structures and burned ...
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Season 2
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Episode 33
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34:37
Rebuild:LA Episode 032 - California’s Chaparral Could Be Our Best Fire Protection Plan with Richard Halsey of the California Chaparral Institute
What if saving California’s chaparral ecosystem means we’d be protecting California communities from wildfires? Richard Halsey, the founder of the California Chaparral Institute, says our state’s most abundant biome, chaparral, actually protect...
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38:31
Rebuild:LA Episode 031 - Scenes from MySafe:LA’s Wildfire Fair
MySafe:LA's Wildfire Fair took place this past Sunday at the Autry Museum of the American West in Los Angeles. Our non-profit organized the event to help residents have a one-stop solution to finding wildfire information and products. The fair ...
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Season 2
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Episode 31
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18:01
Rebuild:LA Episode 030 - A Fire Retardant You Could Drink with M-Fire’s Silvio Lanzas
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...
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Season 2
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Episode 30
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39:35
Episode 029: UPDATED! Rebuild:LA - Delay, Deny, Discourage, and Underpay with Joy Chen of the Eaton Fire Survivors' Network
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...
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Season 2
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Episode 29
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42:54
Rebuild:LA Episode 028 - Saving Whole Neighborhoods from Wildfire with Fire Aside's Jason Brooks
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 peopl...
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Season 2
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Episode 28
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39:22
Rebuild:LA Episode 027 - The Hard Truth About Zone Zero with Dr. Travis Longcore
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 a...
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Season 2
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Episode 27
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49:41
Episode 026: Rebuild:LA - Rebuilding Our City in a Changing Climate with Probable Futures Founder Spencer Glendon, Part II
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 a...
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Season 2
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Episode 26
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29:47
Episode 025: Rebuild:LA - Rebuilding Our City in a Changing Climate with Probable Futures Founder Spencer Glendon, Part I
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 u...
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Season 2
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Episode 25
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32:59
Rebuild:LA Episode 024 - Saving Homes from Wildfire One Assessment at a Time with MySafe:LA’s Dante Cornejo
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...
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Season 2
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Episode 24
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43:40
Rebuild:LA Episode 023 - Rebuilding Community One Park at a Time with LA Rec and Parks' Brenda Aguirre
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...
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Season 2
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Episode 23
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42:41
Rebuild:LA Episode 022 - Post-Traumatic Growth with Dr. Veronica Viesca
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 compan...
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Season 2
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Episode 22
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30:57
Rebuild:LA Episode 021 - We Were At The Limit of Our Aircraft with Pascal Duclos
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...
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Season 2
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Episode 21
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31:51