Wildfire Threats & Resilience  Cultural burning hands-on practice during a fire camp at First Nations’ Emergency Services Society of British Columbia (FNESS) in Cranbrook, BC. (Photo: Jordan Melograna, Indigenous Leadership Initiative) Hi Living on Earth listeners! This week we finally get to share with you something we’ve been working on for the last few months: our special about wildfire threats and resilience.

Fueled by climate disruption, decades of fire suppression, and development in fire-prone areas, wildfire disasters are now hitting US communities so frequently that it’s easy to become desensitized to them. So, we wanted to take a step back and look at some other aspects of wildfire beyond what you might hear during an acute disaster itself. We knew we didn’t want to shy away from some hard truths, but we also wanted to include plenty of hope. Here’s the rundown:

• We talked with a Stanford University professor about his research into wildfire smoke and mortality and learned that wildfire smoke currently kills around 40,000 people in the U.S. every year, on par with U.S. car crash fatalities each year. (!)
• We welcomed back a formerly incarcerated firefighter to discuss the big pay raise California incarcerated firefighters just received. (They were previously paid just $5-10 a day.)
• We discussed the mental health impacts of wildfire and some ways to cope, as yours truly shared what it was like when the 2003 Cedar Fire hit my hometown of San Diego.
• We learned about how some Oregon streams and fish are showing surprising resilience after extremely intense wildfires in 2020.
• And we spoke with a Cree-Métis Indigenous person who practices and advocates for “good fire" — or low-intensity, cultural burning — to not only reduce fuels, but also to rekindle traditions and cultivate healthier ecosystems. The ghostly limbs of a large Manzanita bush that succumbed to the 2003 Cedar Fire in San Diego County but re-sprouted lush new growth in the years afterwards. (Photo: Jenni Doering) If you like this show, we think you’ll also enjoy these previous LOE stories about people and nature recovering from extreme wildfire.

Redwood Rebirth After Fire Nearly all the tall coast redwoods in California’s Big Basin Redwoods State Park burned in a 2020 wildfire. But within a few months, the charred trunks had grown a fuzz of healthy green shoots. A paper documents how the trees were able to regenerate using energy reserves stored for many decades.

Wildfires Bring 'Climate Trauma' Wildfires like those that hit southern California in January 2025 take an enormous social and psychological toll on victims and observers alike. We hear how people and communities can heal from the ‘climate trauma’ brought by wildfires and other disasters linked to the climate crisis.

David Brancaccio on Fire Recovery The thousands of homes that burned in Los Angeles this January included the home of Marketplace Morning Report Host David Brancaccio. He shares what he’s learning about the challenges of rebuilding with a limited supply and huge demand for contractors. David says there’s an opportunity to rebuild a more wildfire-resistant Altadena, and to heal the community itself. And we checked back in with David Brancaccio this fall to hear about his hopes to rebuild with fire-resistant material: Building Back Better After Wildfire   We want to hear from you! Do you have a story of recovery or rethinking your relationship with wildfire you’d like to share? Here’s how:

• First find a quiet place without wind or other background noises.
• Open an app like Voice Memos (iPhone) or Voice Recorder (Android) and hold your phone up, but not right in front of your mouth. Close but a little off to the side is better, like you were actually talking on the phone.
• Then please hit record and tell us your story in 2 minutes or less. We’d also love to hear your name, where you live, and what radio station you listen to LOE on, or whether you listen to the podcast.
• When you’re done, you can email us the file at comments@loe.org. And we might feature your story on the show down the road!

That’s all for now – time to digest those delicious Thanksgiving Feast Favorites we cooked up for last week’s show.

Jenni Doering Managing Producer