AI & the LA Fires
Need a Jan 20 distraction?
How about AI & the LA Fires?
A good friend of mine who is kind, super intelligent, and a tireless social justice warrior, is fond of saying, “Sometimes you just gotta protect your peace.”
True indeed! And that’s why I’m taking a break from the news today. No morning updates. No news websites. No app notifications. Me and my morning joe are just saying no.
On a day that, for me, feels baffling and heartbreaking, I’m protecting my peace by sharing how I used AI to help with another heartbreaking situation – the Eaton fire in Los Angeles.
The Eaton fire in Los Angeles
As some of you know, I live in Pasadena, California, which is right below the area where the Eaton fire is still burning, almost two weeks after it started.
My house didn’t burn down, and I didn’t have to evacuate; for that I am SO grateful. But I have friends who lost their homes and everything in them. I’ve heard painful stories and seen horrific images, as I’m sure you have. The entire Altadena community (the northern part of Pasadena) has been decimated—literally burned to the ground.
There really are no words to describe the feelings.
I look at what’s happening in the world (in the U.S.) and it’s sometimes hard to believe that humans are mostly good, decent people. Of course, we sometimes make horrible decisions that cause great harm, but when a disaster hits, it brings out the best in (most of) us.
Thousands of people have been fighting the fire, providing shelter, helping the animals, lending an ear and a shoulder to cry on. People are helping in countless ways.
During the first week of the fires, over HUGE baked potatoes from Julienne's in San Marino, the social justice warrior friend I mentioned earlier, my partner, and I wondered, “What can we do besides make financial donations?”
AI (and the humans) to the rescue!
Don’t get me wrong – financial donations are much needed and that alone is doing plenty. But we all live in Pasadena, and we all have friends who lost everything in the fire and we wanted to do more.
We ate WAY too much baked potato and came up with several great ideas. Of course, as a tech geek, my idea involved technology.
My friend was sharing how overwhelmed people were feeling. They lost everything and information was, and still is, coming fast and furious with all the things they need to do and all the agencies they can contact for help and it’s just all too much.
All that information is helpful and needed, but it’s a lot. Where do you start? And that’s where AI entered the picture.
I did a few things:
I took all those emails I was getting and put them into NotebookLM (one of Google’s AI tools) and asked it to create a step-by-step guide from all the resources.
I told Google Deep Research what was happening, gave it some context, and asked it to research all the resources available to people who have lost everything in a fire and create a checklist they could follow as they go through the recovery process.
I also asked some technology friends for some suggestions and one of them was already working on a Custom GPT called, “LA Fires - Support Guide 2025”. Like I said, most people are good, decent people who want to help.
The checklist isn’t quite complete; it needs a little more love to make it useful, but we have a good start.
I hope you are protecting your peace today and I hope this blog post has been a gentle reminder that even when the world feels like it’s falling apart, most of us humans are good decent people and we will get through it together.
Before you go…
These are the nonprofits I’m supporting this month.
Pasadena Humane Society – At last count, they have taken in over 300 animals displaced by the Eaton fire, many of them injured. I’m a HUGE animal lover and this just breaks my heart.
Find out more about animal assistance for the Eaton fire.
The Telepathy Tapes – PREPARE TO HAVE YOUR MIND BLOWN! This podcast series, soon to be documentary, explores the profound abilities of non-speakers with autism—individuals who have long been misunderstood and underestimated.
This issue feels close to my heart as someone with a family member on the spectrum. One of my clients also serves adults with developmental disabilities.
Even if this issue doesn’t touch you personally, I highly encourage you to listen to the podcast series; it’s SO good I binged the entire first season in a few days.
YOUR CALL TO ACTION: If you are one who likes sharing (hello extroverts), CLICK HERE and tell me about the causes close to your heart.
PS. Want to explore some AI Agents? Click This Referral Link.
