writer/editor detail:
The Rattle Fire 2008
Narrative downloadable from the Umpqua National Forest website:
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/umpqua/fire/rattle-fire/index.shtml
--------Tear sheet from the original Preface
“ We don’t call it wildfire for nothing.”
Alexis West, Public Information Officer
Every fire is unique. Every fire is a particular alignment of predominant wind patterns, local terrain, specific fuel types localized weather patterns and humidity cycles. Add to this natural variety two small communities nestled in deep woods on either side of the fire, a two-lane access road to major tourist destinations, and an enclave of hydroelectric power stations on three different streams. Make the backdrop of this fire a Wilderness with slopes covered with six-year-old fire blackened snags in a crazy, steep Wilderness and you can imagine the moving parts of the Rattle Fire. Throw across this spicy mix a lightning complex that ignited over 100 fires and you have a grounded idea of the complexity of the Rattle Fire.
llahee lookout taken by Robert Cunningham
Fire Management Officer of the Diamond Lake Ranger District.
August 2008.Image is unedited.
Video of fire images and footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt4_uZXhgwI
Music was authorized with limited use permission by DJ Cam.Thank you, DJ CAM!
About the video:
As part of my public information detail on the Rattle Fire (2008), I complied a video short from images provided by firefighters, incident management team members, and other personnel working the wildfire,
including myself. This was not footage compiled from a film crew with lots of '3 chip toys', dollies, supported
by
a high end caterer. The low resolution quality of the production (in certain segments) was unavoidable where the dpi (dots per inch) of the source imagery was 72. I feel the truth of the images is the in situ authenticity of shots taken on the run, with phone cameras and small, portable digitals pulled out of packs chucked around in all types of fire rigs: cameras dusty from the grimy work that is inherent in firefighting.
DJ Cam, French hip-hop artist, authorized limited use of his cut "Success", ' D J Cam Revisited' (2005). While I am a total fan of this artist, I chose this music for two reasons: it is of a genre that a lot of firefighters listen to on their iPods off-shift and the message of the jam is eXactly aligned with incident command system practices. "Learn from your mistakes, learn from your success, that's how you do best." It was my expectation that some of the older guard would not enjoy the hip-hop style, however, I thought if they could hear through the music to the message they might be... less annoyed. With the emphasis on
IMT's as HRO's. Wow, the anchronisms are flying here: IMT= incident management team, HRO=highly resilient organizations.
In reviewing some of the commentary forwarded to me from the forest Public Affairs Officer , I feel pleased that the video provoked strong sentiment either very liked or very disliked emphatically. Such a response is a complement, I prefer passion to mediocrity. Viva!
My fireblog has a discussion and some responses at :
http://pio2x.blogspot.com/2009/08/socialmedia4-rattle-fire-rattlemeyeah.html