Best Mysafe La Podcasts (2025)

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 043 - A 50-Year Perspective on the January Firestorms with Chief Kim Zagaris of the Western Fire Chiefs’ Association 40:07

Play Pause

1d ago40:07

40:07

Send us a text 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 State of California, Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) until just a few years …

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 042: There Aren’t Enough Firetrucks for Every House with the LA County Fire Department Community Brigade’s Brent Woodworth 49:44

8d ago49:44

49:44

Send us a text 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 even those of their neighbors. Others may have lost their lives trying. It’s never been a th…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 041 - Forgotten Altadena with the Future Organization’s Aimery Thomas 43:25

15d ago43:25

43:25

Send us a text 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 residents in the wake of the Eaton Fire. The results are as fascination as they are disturbing, u…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 040 - It’s Been 8 Months. Now What? With Palisades Fire Survivor Kari Weaver 43:49

21d ago43:49

43:49

Send us a text 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 only a few hours later that the Eaton Fire came roaring out of Eaton Canyon and wiped out …

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 039 - How New Legislation Will Help Victims of the LA Firestorms with CA Senator Ben Allen 44:54

29d ago44:54

44:54

Send us a text 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 the Pacific Palisades, two communities devastated by January’s Palisades Fire. This week he’…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 038 What Can We Do To Make Evacuations Work in the Next Wildfire with MySafe:LA’s David Barrett - Part II 38:14

1M ago38:14

38:14

Send us a text 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 another victim six months after the fires makes it clear that we need to start working together…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 037 Why Didn’t Evacuation Plans Work in the Palisades and Eaton Fires with MySafe:LA’s David Barrett - Part I 25:24

1M ago25:24

25:24

Send us a text 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 through both communities this January? Why does the death toll for the fires keep rising? Los…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 036 - How Difficult Is It to Harden Your Home? We Asked Two Fire Chiefs How They Hardened Their Own 41:59

2M ago41:59

41:59

Send us a text 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 Wildfire Preparedness and Mitigation. Chief Jose de Jesus Lopez is a retired Assistant Chief f…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 035 CAL FIRE’s Uphill Battle with Zone Zero with State Fire Marshal Chief Daniel Berlant - Part II 33:10

2M ago33:10

33:10

Send us a text 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 are already filling social media and text strings with nightmares of having to create moonsc…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 034 How Is CAL FIRE “Treating” Our Wildland with State Fire Marshal Chief Daniel Berlant - Part I 26:32

2M ago26:32

26:32

Send us a text 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 nearly 40 million people, who live all over the 164-thousand square acres of land that make…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 033 - What Would You Pack If A Wildfire Was On Your Doorstep with MySafe:LA’s Chris Nevil 34:37

3M ago34:37

34:37

Send us a text 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 23,448 acres. The Eaton Fire was even more destructive, killing 18 people, destroying 9,000…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 032 - California’s Chaparral Could Be Our Best Fire Protection Plan with Richard Halsey of the California Chaparral Institute 38:31

3M ago38:31

38:31

Send us a text 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 protects our communities from widespread wildfire disasters. And he says the more the state mandat…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 031 - Scenes from MySafe:LA’s Wildfire Fair 18:01

3M ago18:01

18:01

Send us a text 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 featured 25 booths where attendees could learn about a wide array of products from spray-on…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 030 - A Fire Retardant You Could Drink with M-Fire’s Silvio Lanzas 39:35

3M ago39:35

39:35

Send us a text 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 inv…

1
Episode 029: UPDATED! Rebuild:LA - Delay, Deny, Discourage, and Underpay with Joy Chen of the Eaton Fire Survivors' Network 42:54

3M ago42:54

42:54

Send us a text 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 abilit…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 028 - Saving Whole Neighborhoods from Wildfire with Fire Aside's Jason Brooks 39:22

4M ago39:22

39:22

Send us a text 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 dozen…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 027 - The Hard Truth About Zone Zero with Dr. Travis Longcore 49:41

4M ago49:41

49:41

Send us a text 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…

1
Episode 026: Rebuild:LA - Rebuilding Our City in a Changing Climate with Probable Futures Founder Spencer Glendon, Part II 29:47

4M ago29:47

29:47

Send us a text 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 i…

1
Episode 025: Rebuild:LA - Rebuilding Our City in a Changing Climate with Probable Futures Founder Spencer Glendon, Part I 32:59

4M ago32:59

32:59

Send us a text 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 in…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 024 - Saving Homes from Wildfire One Assessment at a Time with MySafe:LA’s Dante Cornejo 43:40

5M ago43:40

43:40

Send us a text 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 toda…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 023 - Rebuilding Community One Park at a Time with LA Rec and Parks' Brenda Aguirre 42:41

5M ago42:41

42:41

Send us a text 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 she…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 022 - Post-Traumatic Growth with Dr. Veronica Viesca 30:57

5M ago30:57

30:57

Send us a text 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 profession…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 021 - We Were At The Limit of Our Aircraft with Pascal Duclos 31:51

6M ago31:51

31:51

Send us a text 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. A…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 020 - I Knew My Home and My Town Were in Danger with Survivor Jon Brown - Part II 36:44

6M ago36:44

36:44

Send us a text 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…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 019 - I Knew My Home and My Town Were in Danger with Survivor Jon Brown - Part I 33:38

6M ago33:38

33:38

Send us a text 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 j…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 018 - The Recovery Bible with Author Sean Scott 39:59

6M ago39:59

39:59

Send us a text 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 Pa…

1
Rebuild:AL Episode 017 - Like Driving Through a Volcano with Jessica Fernandez and Pastor Anthony McFarland 51:07

6M ago51:07

51:07

Send us a text 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 Mountain…

1
RebuildLA Episode 016 - Can a Beacon Box Save Your Neighborhood From Wildfire with Jim Kniss 34:40

7M ago34:40

34:40

Send us a text 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…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 015 - Where the Next Destructive Wildfire Will Be with NASA’s Dr. Chris Potter 39:27

7M ago39:27

39:27

Send us a text 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 destruct…

1
RebuildLA Episode 014 - Disasters Are Going to Keep Happening with Bright Harbor's Joel Wish 45:37

7M ago45:37

45:37

Send us a text 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 re…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 013 - The City Failed Us with Survivor Sue Pascoe 47:07

7M ago47:07

47:07

Send us a text 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 familie…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 012 - Build Back Better with Alexis Rivas of Cover 48:45

7M ago48:45

48:45

Send us a text 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 epis…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 011 - Can We Out-Think Wildfires with the NFPA's Michele Steinberg 46:41

7M ago46:41

46:41

Send us a text 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 so…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 010 - Are The Kids Alright with Chloe Canton 33:43

7M ago33:43

33:43

Send us a text 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 …

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 009 - A Particularly Dangerous Situation with Rich Thompson from the NWS 34:17

7M ago34:17

34:17

Send us a text 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 c…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 008 - Rebuilding LA for All of LA with Councilmember John Lee 26:15

7M ago26:15

26:15

Send us a text 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. Resourc…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 007 - The Ripple Effects of the Fires with Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez 25:36

8M ago25:36

25:36

Send us a text 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 di…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 006 - A Tornado of Fire with Justice Tricia Bigelow (ret) 30:00

8M ago30:00

30:00

Send us a text 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 advancin…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 005 - Stories from the Firestorms of January with Greg Doyle 37:19

8M ago37:19

37:19

Send us a text 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 Sout…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 004 - Do You Have Enough Wildfire Insurance with Real Estate Broker Pat Hanley 31:00

8M ago31:00

31:00

Send us a text 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 i…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 003 - Fighting the Palisades Fire From The Sky with CAL FIRE Aviation's Linnea Edmeier 45:30

8M ago45:30

45:30

Send us a text 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…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 002 - Making Sure Your Pet Survives Wildfire with SPCA LA's Madeline Bernstein 38:20

8M ago38:20

38:20

Send us a text 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…

1
Rebuild:LA Episode 001 - How to Protect Your Home and Your Neighborhood from Wildfires with MySafe:LA's David Barrett 38:29

8M ago38:29

38:29

Send us a text 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, M…

1
Leave Fireworks to the Professionals! 21:17

2+ y ago21:17

21:17

Join MySafe:LA's David Barrett and our special guest La'Veyah Mosely and her mother to discuss the life changing fireworks can have on a person. La'Veyah - a talented 7th grade student in L.A. - and an athlete playing for the L.A. Watts Rams youth league lost all of the fingers on her left hand when she was handed a firework device on the 5th of Ju…

1
BAM! The issue of illegal fireworks in Los Angeles 1:14:20

3+ y ago1:14:20

1:14:20

In the City of Los Angeles, ALL fireworks are illegal. In the County of Los Angeles, it depends on which city you're talking about. Many cities offer "Safe and Sane" fireworks for sale on and around the 4th of July. The lack of consistency from city to city complicates the public's understanding of fireworks and the law. Join host David Barrett as …

1
Are You Ready For Wildfire? 29:24

3+ y ago29:24

29:24

Join MySafe:LA's David Barrett as he covers the ongoing threat of wildfires in California generally, and in Southern California more specifically. Los Angeles City Fire Department Deputy Chief Trevor Richmond shares insight in what to expect this year and unveils a new collaboration between the LAFD and MySafe:LA - the Los Angeles Wildfire Resilien…

1
Making L.A. Safer in 2022 14:28

3+ y ago14:28

14:28

Join MySafe:LA Executive Director David Barrett as he discusses the challenges in public safety and resilience for 2022. David shares some of the new initiatives at MySafe:LA and how the public may benefit from the programs being offered by the recognized, award-winning community resilience organization. This episode focuses on the upcoming wildfir…

1
The Fireworks 2021 Podcast 59:09

4y ago59:09

59:09

Join host David Barrett as he navigates the complex environment of illegal fireworks in Los Angeles. David is joined by three important guests, including LA City Area Prosecutor and Deputy City Attorney Gabrielle Taylor, Deputy Chief for the Office of Operations of the LAPD, Beatrice Girmala, and Public Information Officer Erik Scott of the Los Ang…

1
S2; E2: Fireworks in Los Angeles, Boom in the Year of COVID-19 1:18:40

5y ago1:18:40

1:18:40

Fireworks have traditionally been at the core of national and regional celebrations. In Los Angeles, all fireworks sales and use are illegal - but even so, Angelenos celebrate every June through August with a nightly show of rebellion that brings joy to some, and fear and disaster to many. This special edition of CityTalk:LA looks into the issues s…

1
S2; E1: COVID-19 Safety for the Armenian Community (in Armenian) 28:04

5+ y ago28:04

28:04

In this exciting Armenian-language podcast, Harout Harry Semerdjian of MySafe:LA’s Board of Directors and EMT Henry Halajian of MySafe:LA (and an ambulance operator for the Glendale Fire Department) discuss COVID-19 and important community protections related to the coronavirus epidemic. They also touch on our signature Smoke Alarm Installation Pro…