Ralph Bloemers is an environmental law attorney, filmmaker, and storyteller whose work has taken him from burn landscapes in eastern Oregon to the halls of Congress and the screens of PBS. He is the co-creator, with filmmaker Trip Jennings, of Elemental and Weathered, two landmark films on fire, forests, and the communities living with both. In this episode, Ralph joins Jennifer Gray Thompson for a wide-ranging conversation about why fire is not the enemy, what it actually takes to protect a home, and how we change a culture that still doesn’t fully understand what it’s up against.

They cover the suppression era that set the West up for mega fires, the indigenous fire practices that were criminalized for generations and are only now being restored, the physics of ember storms and what mesh on your vents can actually do, why community-level ignition resistance matters more than any single home, the storytelling innovations, from reggae music videos to a cartoon of a house in a psychiatrist’s chair, that Ralph is using to make the prepare message actually land, and the policy and insurance battles that Jennifer and Ralph have fought side by side on behalf of fire survivors.

Ralph is one of the most original thinkers working in this space. This is a conversation worth your time.

Resources:

• How to Disaster
• Learn more about After the Fire USA
• After the Fire USA Resource Library
• Green Oregon
• Watch Elemental
• Watch Weathered on PBS
• Cultural Fire Management Council - Margot Robbins
• CAER Earth - mycoremediation for Fire-Affected Soils
• Foothill Catalog Foundation
• Connect with Jennifer Gray Thompson on LinkedIn

Produced by NOVA

John Mills is the co-founder and CEO of Watch Duty, a nonprofit emergency alerting app that gives civilians real-time wildfire intelligence drawn directly from first responder radio traffic. In this episode, John joins Jennifer Gray Thompson to talk about how Watch Duty was built, why it was necessary, and where it is headed.

They cover the problem Watch Duty was created to solve, how it scaled from a single county in Sonoma to all 50 US states, the harrowing experience of staying live and accurate during the LA fires, and what it means to build something disruptive in a space that does not always welcome disruption. John also speaks to the future of Watch Duty as it prepares to expand beyond wildfire into flooding and other natural disasters.

Resources:

• How to Disaster
• Download the Watch Duty app
• 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 relaunch episode, Jennifer Gray Thompson explains why How to Disaster is returning now and what the show is here to offer people living through disaster and recovery.

She shares how After the Fire began, what the organization has learned from years of walking alongside fire-affected communities, and why recovery works better when people do not try to carry it alone. The episode also introduces the show’s larger mission: helping listeners feel less isolated, more informed, and better able to face what comes next.

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