LOS ANGELES — Dustin Bramell grew up surrounded by fire gear. His grandfather, father and brothers were all firefighters. But he never imagined he’d be the one sifting through the ashes of his own home.

“Growing up in a whole family of firefighters… I never expected to be the person that had their house burn down,” Bramell said.

For more than four years, Bramell and his wife lived in their Palisades home — until a fast-moving wildfire in January reduced it to rubble in a single afternoon.

“We thought it would be a couple of days, and we’d be back in our house,” he said. “We never expected the outcome would be this.”

“This” became the reality of 2025: living in seven different temporary homes, battling insurance companies and removing layers of debris — all while navigating the emotional toll of losing everything.

But as an architect, Bramell found a way to channel grief into purpose. Rather than walk away, he began designing something more: a more resilient future for himself and for Los Angeles.

“We have the opportunity to not just think about the bad stuff we’ve gone through,” Bramell said. “But also about how we rebuild Los Angeles — and frankly, the Western United States — because these fires are not going away.”

Bramell was among the featured participants at this year’s Rebuilding with Resilience in LA summit, where city leaders, architects and insurers gathered to discuss how to address the region’s growing wildfire risk and what some are calling an insurance crisis.

With major companies like State Farm pulling out of California, organizers say the state must act quickly to make communities more insurable.

“More fire-resistant building materials, smarter home design and planning — those are critical,” said Abby Ross, an event organizer. “The most affordable time to de-risk a community is during rebuilding.”

Michael Newman, general counsel for the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, says those steps don’t just save homes — they restore confidence.

“Understanding that there are ways to rebuild that protect against wildfires and make homes more insurable is really important,” he said.

To help lead that change, Bramell launched Case Study: Adapt, a design company aimed at helping fire survivors rebuild smarter and safer.

“We thought it was really important for our kids to see that when bad things happen, you don’t run away,” Bramell said. “You show up, you stand there, you look it in the face — and you take it on.”