Contributed by Susan Rainer, CMCA, AMS
One year ago, 13 wildfires erupted over three weeks in Los Angeles County. They caused 30 fatalities, destroyed a total of 50,247 acres, and led to the evacuation of more than 200,000 people, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fires became one of the worst — and possibly most costly — natural disasters in American history. After 24 days of destruction, the landscape was unrecognizable. Many homeowners completely lost their homes and generational wealth. High contents of lead, mercury, arsenic, and asbestos dust were discovered throughout the burn zones.
Two of the communities I manage were hard hit, thrusting us into emergency status and around-the-clock attention. In my career as a community association manager, these wildfires were my first experience overseeing such a disastrous event. I’ve grown exponentially because of this experience. If you’re ever faced with a devastating natural disaster, I hope my lessons help you navigate the response and recovery with skill, confidence, and empathy.
Navigating the response
- Be prepared. Whether you’re a community manager or board member, you should be prepared to be called on to deal with life-threatening and terrifying situations. At the same time, you must provide coherent guidance to colleagues, clients, and homeowners dealing with horrific and debilitating conditions, personal loss, and uncertainty.
- Insist on safety. Elderly residents needed to be strongly persuaded to evacuate.
- Rely on your experts. Before and after, community leaders can prepare by seeking recommendations from experts. Seek out and accept the help and advice of those who have experience navigating natural disasters. They are eager to assist.
- Communicate. The manager and board should meet weekly in executive session and organize frequent open meetings to keep all homeowners informed. Email updates or newsletters should be sent on a regular basis to provide clear information regarding master insurance policy limits, verify facts, and dispel rumors.
- Be compassionate. I called every homeowner within two weeks of the disaster to demonstrate compassion for their unimaginable losses. I noted their needs and listened to each survival story. I offered my condolences, connected them to nonprofits capable of meeting immediate support, and kept them informed of the latest developments.
- Be transparent. Clear expectations helped displaced homeowners and residents take control over their situation. I told owners to expect to be away from home for at least 12 months. This information enabled them to plan their finances, temporary housing, and prepare psychologically for the journey ahead. Owners needed to consider relocation costs and insurance payouts while paying a mortgage, association assessments, and rent for temporary housing.
- Understand that financial management looks different. Even if all regular maintenance services are paused after a disaster, homeowners must continue to pay community assessments. Operating funds will pay disaster-related expenses until insurance payments begin. Regular assessments cover fees for securing the property, remediation, legal counsel, disaster management services, additional recording secretary fees for frequent meetings, structural engineer services, and regular budget items such as insurance and loan payments. In our case, if we used reserve funds to cover operational expenses, we would have to reimburse them within 12 months.
- Beware of bad faith insurance practices. It’s common after natural disasters. Some insurance companies may attempt to withhold advance settlement payments. The association attorney can play a vital role in resolving payment disputes. If the attorney isn’t able to get the insurance company to release advance payments, they may suggest filing a bad faith claim as a last resort. A fire or smoke damage settlement claim is independent of a bad faith practice claim. A total fire or smoke damage claim is determined based on estimates for remediation, restoration, and rebuilding.
- Rely on your governing documents. If the insurance settlement offer is insufficient for a rebuild, the governing documents specify requirements on voting on whether to rebuild. The association attorney will guide the membership through this process.
- Take care of yourself. Be sure to sleep, pray, meditate, or do whatever you need to manage stress. The knowledge you gain through this experience will make you a valuable resource for others. Learn as much as you can from every challenge and pass on that knowledge to others in the industry.
Rebuilding advice
Once everyone is safe, and it’s decided the property will be rebuilt, every contractor will claim they can take on the job.
When accepting bids, I’ve found two key items will weed out unsuitable contractors without jeopardizing rapport:
- Tell contractors the structural engineer will review estimates and advise the board. This reduces the volume of time-consuming marketing calls and gimmicks.
- Tell contractors you need to see examples of multifamily housing they’ve built and require a list of references. A general contractor will only be able to provide examples of single-family homes.
In my case, within two months, two contractors pulled their bids when they couldn’t meet the criteria. A company with global disaster recovery certification was able to meet it. The firm gave the board a timeline of up to 18 months and a cost of under $7 million to rebuild the community. In contrast, one general contractor quoted a timeline of two-to-five years with a cost of $25 million.
Susan Rainer is with Ross Morgan & Co., in Sherman Oaks, Calif.
>>Read more about wildfire recovery in Common Ground January/February 2026.
