This final article in the series is about dealing with the aftermath of catastrophe. When it was originally written, not so long ago, it was a look back to the Camp Fire of 2018, and what those of us who survived learned that could help those in the future deal with their own disasters.

But the summer of 2021 has reminded us, again, that we are always living in an aftermath. As I write this new introduction, communities across Butte and Plumas counties, like Greenville, pick through the ashes of homes that still stood when I began writing this series. And flames curve around the rim of the communities of Lake Tahoe.

In the media stories about disasters, there is often a kind of curve that emerges.

Peace gives way to catastrophe. Unexpected heroes emerge, displaying service and courage. First responders, governmental, and private groups rush in to nurse the wounded and restore peace—or at least lessen the destruction that chaos leaves behind.

Teary survivors survey the wreckage that was once their anonymous corner of the world and look to the future with resolution to build it all back. Wreckage is cleared, hammers start driving into two-by-fours, and pretty soon after that, the story is “over.”

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