Shefali J Lakhina

Co-founder @WonderLabs1 Catalyzing technology & capital to address climate impacts in caring, equitable & just ways. Founder, FireUp:

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

https://t.co/yKUyrakotQ

[Bill Clerico @billclerico]

The world is getting warmer while our infrastructure gets older: a recipe for disasters.

We’re excited to announce Fund II: $85M for early stage investments in disaster resilience.

[Wes Nichols @wesnichols]

16 months post-fire. This is my street in Pacific Palisades. Barely walkable. 7% of lots under construction. This is what commercial-grade government failure looks like. @spencerpratt @RickCarusoLA @RichardGrenell we plead for fresh ideas and leadership.

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

I'm curious, where have 17,000 people evacuated to? The Rancho Santa Susana Community Park shelter has a capacity of what, 250? Are hotels in the area offering discounted rates? could @watchdutyapp show these as options on the map? or are most evacuees staying with family and friends? time to bring out the air purifiers and stay safe from smoke impacts!!! #SandyFire #evacuees #simivalley

[Red Cross Central California @RedCrossCCR]

Alongside @CountyVentura, the Red Cross is supporting an evacuation shelter for neighbors impacted by the #SandyFire at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park, 505 Los Angeles Ave, Simi Valley, CA 93063.
Volunteers will provide safe shelter, food, water & resources to evacuees & pets

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

#SandyFire #evacuees #simivalley

[uhaul @uhaul]

U-Haul is offering 30 days of free self-storage and U-Box® container use at two Company facilities near Simi Valley for residents who have already been displaced or may be impacted by the Sandy Fire.

Click here to learn more: https://t.co/1UhvCvg88s

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

https://t.co/78dvmpA5Lg

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

https://t.co/0WcDBoZI9T

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

Join us for a virtual Fire & Forestry Career Day next Friday, 11 April! Learn about exciting career pathways from leading experts in #wildfire #forestry #conservation #careers Drop off your resume, schedule informational chats, and chart your career next steps! https://t.co/a9ZAgjoK0M Don't miss it, register here today: https://t.co/NP1wkO5tsx

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

👩‍💻 Calling all innovators, researchers, public agencies, community networks, and funders working towards #wildfire #resilience outcomes around the world!

👩‍🚒 Please take the State of FireTech 2025 Survey before 30 August, 2025: https://t.co/5nztKu1Dvx

🎯 The annual State of FireTech Surveys help track how FireTech is evolving and achieving equitable outcomes with public agencies and communities on the frontlines of the wildfire crisis. Your perspectives will contribute to findings and recommendations in the forthcoming State of FireTech 2025 Annual Update.

💡 For background, read results from past State of FireTech Surveys here: https://t.co/ZfbQF7ix2Y

#firetech #wildfires #resilience #innovation #equity

@WonderLabs1 @MooreFound @convectivecap @MegafireAction

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

As the Trump-Vance administration assumes office this week, I want to underscore the urgent need for retaining, expanding, and modernizing our nation's fire and forestry workforce.

Our nation’s workforce systems, and the policies that govern them, have not kept pace with the changing needs or evolving conditions of the fire and forestry industry. Linear workforce pipelines no longer serve a workforce seeking greater mobility, flexibility, and family sustaining careers.

Workforce development systems need to be replaced with career development systems that embrace whole person development, life long learning, and upskilling across career stages to enable greater flexibility in work-life arrangements and well-being outcomes.

The Trump-Vance administration must create systems that democratize access to whole-person development, lifelong learning, and career mobility with more opportunities for upskilling and pathways for non-degree credentials.

This revitalization of the fire and forestry workforce system must be implemented through private and non-profit partnerships already leading the way in ensuring that fire and forestry careers are dignified, sustainable, and capable of securing a future for all American workers.

This is why FireUp exists (https://t.co/4L3Fy2D8MK). We recognize that this paradigm shift requires a bold policy agenda that modernizes traditional degree-focused and workforce training pipeline models to instead meet people where they are in their life and career. Every American deserves boundless pathways to pursue a rewarding career and meaningful life.

We need to redesign the system to democratize access to earning credentials no matter where workers live. The system must recognize people’s transferrable skills, build their competencies through new training models, and give people choices for career transitions and mobility at every stage.

FireUp is already working to deliver a worker-centered digital infrastructure of care that forms the basis of these recommendations. We stand ready to partner in this transformation, helping to build a future where fire and forestry professionals thrive and their work contributes to a safe and healthy future for all Americans.

Read more about fire and forestry workforce priorities here: https://t.co/sHkRBMUjiW

#wildfires #fire #forestry #workforce

[Wonder Labs @WonderLabs1]

Wishing you all a restful year end✨We look forward to coming back to life in the new year with more offerings to build a healthy, effective, & sustainable future for all fire and forestry professionals🌲

[Wonder Labs @WonderLabs1]

Great to be featured in this report with a brief on how our FireTech framework has contributed to mapping emerging technologies for wildfire resilience and adaptation! @ShefJL @MooreFound More on the State of FireTech Report here: https://t.co/YyKRibuYNo

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

@gtwhitesides Congratulations, Congressman Whitesides!!!

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

It was great chatting with Jennifer Gabrys on the Smart Forest Radio about #firetech I mentioned @BurnBotRxTech and FireUp (https://t.co/4L3Fy2D8MK) many times, obviously :)

Spoiler alert: "... technology is not intrinsically good, bad or anything. It is always about who is developing it, who is using it, and to what end. And emphasizing the notion of co-development, of co-production, is just so important ... thinking about technology as an enabler and an amplifier, not as solutionism. The question is, what are you going to do with it, for what outcome?"

#wildfire #technology @WonderLabs1 @PlanetaryPraxis #StateofFireTechReport @MooreFound

[Planetary Praxis @PlanetaryPraxis]

“Fire risk is a function of the social, the ecological and the technological systems that we inhabit.”

On Smart Forests Radio, Dr Shefali Juneja Lakhina, co-founder of @WonderLabs1 discusses socially led technology innovations in fire and forestry: https://t.co/nFQPGgupix

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

Delighted to accept Tim Ingalsbee's insightful essay for publication in the Fire Journal's Special Issue on Reimagining the Future of Living and Working with Fire! – with @kcopesgerbitz

After the Greenfire Revolution: Reimagining Collective Identities of the Future Wildland Fire Workforce in a Paradigm Shift for Ecological Fire Management

"This concept paper explores possible collective identities for a future wildland fire workforce. Taking inspiration from the work of futurists who foresee an end to the dominant fire exclusion/suppression paradigm, and assuming that an emerging fire restoration/resilience paradigm shift replaces it, this paper engages in speculative explorations of the process and product of this paradigm shift with respect to the future collective identities of a workforce conducting ecological fire management. Social constructionist assumptions from symbolic interactionist sociological theory, Gramscian political theory’s concept of hegemony, and new social movement theory’s concept of collective identity all provide the intellectual foundations for the discussion. This concept paper argues that in order to actualize a paradigm shift, more than advances in scientific research or reforms of government policies will be required—the wildland fire community will need to become (or join) a social movement engaged in collective actions. An imaginary social movement, the “Greenfire revolution,” is invented to help illustrate how the selected theories and concepts might apply in the social construction of ecological fire management and the collective identities of its future workforce."

@fuseefire––gratitude for all you do!

Read Tim's article open access here: https://t.co/ByePEDEp2A

Access all articles in the Special Issue here: https://t.co/MB6GKSbxyl

If you work in fire and forestry, I invite you to engage with the special issue articles and help us reimagine the future of work in fire and forestry!

@WonderLabs1 FireUp https://t.co/4L3Fy2D8MK

#wildfire #resilience #workforce #care #collective

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

Timely and important coverage on co-learning disaster resilience with people from refugee backgrounds in Australia: https://t.co/vekkyDa0GZ Interesting to see my research findings and recommendations are still as relevant. Read on to learn about implementing disaster resilience policies with CARE—collaboration, accountability, responsiveness, and empowerment—of diverse perspectives and lived experiences. #RefugeeWeek24

[Wonder Labs @WonderLabs1]

☀️ TGIF! It’s FireUp Friday! ☀️

Start your weekend by exploring current opportunities in fire and forestry!

Visit https://t.co/rLbExiad2G for more details.

#FireUpFriday #JobOpportunities #Fire #Forestry #HiringNow @DeerCrResources

[Shefali J Lakhina @ShefJL]

Delighted to share a new #firetech podcast episode––Innovating on the Frontlines with Neil Chapman! @neilchappy

Listen here: https://t.co/zGIEbSKw7y

I've been fascinated by the Wildland Fire Mitigation and Management Commission's recommendation to expand the prescribed fire workforce by cross-training potentially a million structural firefighters in applying beneficial fire.

In this episode, Neil tells us the background story of how this came to be and what federal, state, and local agencies are doing to bolster the prescribed fire workforce of America @IAFC_WFP #prescribedfire #TREX

This interagency effort is a great example of systems innovation at work! It's not just about what tools and technologies we adopt, it's about how we can modernize governance systems and repurpose workforce capabilities.

Among many other important topics, we also talk about the urgent need to address structural mitigation efforts that protect the built environment. Neil outlines why it will be important to closely work with communities to implement the ‘mitigations that matter’ at the pace and scale required, now and into the future. 

I hope you enjoy this episode, and please share widely.

Finally, be sure to take the State of FireTech 2024 Survey (do it now!) so your perspective can be represented in the upcoming Annual Update: https://t.co/l8KsGafE8a Thank you!

@WonderLabs1