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18 Months After the Eaton and Palisades Fires: ![]()
What We See![]()
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One of the biggest risks we see right now is the danger of false comparisons.![]()
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Everyone wants to know whether Los Angeles is ahead of or behind another fire recovery. The problem is that comparisons without context can become their own form of misinformation.![]()
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The denominator matters.![]()
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Los Angeles lost more than 16,000 structures. The scale, complexity, and volume of people navigating recovery make this unlike any fire we have studied. There are lessons from Paradise, Santa Rosa, Boulder County, Lahaina, and many others. There is no blueprint.![]()
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What Los Angeles needs now is a clearer vision of success.![]()
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Maybe that vision looks different in Altadena than it does in the Palisades. That's okay. Recovery works best when communities help define what they are trying to become, not just what they are trying to rebuild.![]()
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We also continue to encourage leaders to listen closely to survivors.![]()
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Fire survivors are the best research and development department on the planet. They know where systems are working, where they are failing, and what actually helps people get home.![]()
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We want to say something about the attention economy, too.![]()
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Attention can help recovery. It brings resources, volunteers, philanthropy, and accountability.![]()
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But attention is not recovery.![]()
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Recovery happens in community meetings, rebuilding plans, permit centers, block captain networks, Long-Term Recovery Groups, and thousands of decisions being made by survivors every day.![]()
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The attention economy often rewards outrage more than progress and criticism more than coordination. Yet the people doing the work are usually not looking to be heroes. They're simply trying to solve problems and help their communities move forward.![]()
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What we see at 18 months is not a perfect recovery.![]()
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What we see is momentum.![]()
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We see survivors, community leaders, nonprofits, faith communities, philanthropy, and public servants continuing to show up and do the work.![]()
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There is still room for more people to dig in, support direct rebuilding efforts, and help build survivor-centered, trauma-informed systems that people can actually navigate.![]()
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Community cohesion is still the secret sauce.![]()
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Listen to survivors.![]()
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Build systems that reflect the community.![]()
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Stay accountable.![]()
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Keep people moving toward home.![]()
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Read the full report here:![]()
afterthefireusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/ATF_LA_Recovery_Report_Y2_Q2-2.pdf
Join us in welcoming Laura Blaul as a panelist at the 2026 Wildfire Leadership Summit!![]()
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Laura is the Senior Wildfire Fellow for the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety - IBHS![]()
and Chair of the Board of Directors for the California Fire Safe Council. With more than 30 years of fire service experience, she brings deep expertise in wildfire resilience, community risk reduction, and proactive mitigation.![]()
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At this year’s Summit, Laura will join the panel “Disaster Resilient Infrastructure: What Should Come Next,” helping lead an important conversation on how communities can rebuild and prepare with resilience at the center.![]()
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We’re grateful for the opportunity to have Laura join us! ![]()
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#WildfireLeadershipSummit #WLS2026 #AfterTheFireUSA #LauraBlaul #IBHS #WildfireResilience #DisasterRecovery #CommunityResilience
Tomorrow on How to Disaster. Brian Fies lost his home in the 2017 Tubbs Fire and turned that experience into A Fire Story, a graphic memoir about loss, memory, and rebuilding after wildfire.![]()
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Brian Fies on How to Disaster tomorrow.
Today, After the Fire USA is proud to release Maui’s Recovery at 2.5 Years Post-Megafire.![]()
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At two and a half years, Maui is still very much in recovery. The grief is real. The losses are permanent. The work is unfinished.![]()
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And still, Maui has important lessons to share.![]()
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What we see in Maui is not perfection. Recovery never is. What we see is relentless, imperfect, accountable progress. We see a community and government doing the hard foundational work of recover, rebuild, and reimagine.![]()
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Some of the best practices we believe should be carried forward into other fire-impacted communities include:![]()
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• Community-led, government-supported recovery that centers residents, culture, place, and lived experience.![]()
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• Weekly in-person community meetings that create a consistent space for information, accountability, questions, frustration, and trust-building.![]()
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• Leadership willing to take accountability, change course, and drive major systems change in the wake of catastrophic failure.![]()
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• New housing investments and public-private-nonprofit partnerships that were not possible before the fires, but are now moving because recovery created urgency and alignment.![]()
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• Historic water rights shifts back toward the people of Maui, correcting long-standing inequities and restoring power to the community.![]()
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• Enhanced safety systems at the state and county levels, including efforts to address many of the conditions that contributed to the tragedy.![]()
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• Recovery rooted in culture, land, memory, and future generations, not just buildings and infrastructure.![]()
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This is what recover, rebuild, and reimagine can look like.![]()
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We applaud Maui’s leaders for listening, showing up, taking responsibility, and doing the hard work of systems change. We applaud the community of Maui for carrying grief, truth, culture, advocacy, and vision all at once.![]()
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Maui is already paying it forward to other disaster-impacted communities, including Los Angeles, through our Community to Community Program. These lessons matter because they are lived. They are earned. They are hard-won.![]()
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At 2.5 years, Maui is teaching the country that recovery is not only about replacing what was lost. It is also about asking what must finally be restored, repaired, protected, and made possible.![]()
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You can recover, rebuild, and reimagine after megafires.![]()
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Bravo, Maui. We are honored to learn from you.![]()
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afterthefireusa.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Maui-2.5-years-ATF_USA-5.11.26.pdf![]()
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#MauiRecovers #Lahaina #WildfireRecovery #MegafireRecovery #DisasterRecovery #CommunityLedRecovery #AfterTheFireUSA #RecoverRebuildReimagine #HousingRecovery #PublicPrivatePartnerships #SystemsChange #CommunityToCommunity
Disaster recovery asks a lot of everyone who shows up to help.![]()
The LA fires tested leadership, coordination, and collaboration across many organizations.![]()
Jenni Goodlin names something important here: when communities are already carrying so much, the people coming in to serve have a responsibility not to add more strain.![]()
Full episode in bio.