Wildland Fire Movies & Documentaries
These are some great movies to watch to understand the history of wildfire and wildland firefighting as well as more recent catastrophic fires and how wildfires are affected by climate change. There’s also a few that are wildfire adjacent and fun to watch.
Firestorm
1998
If you want an idea of what wildland firefighting is not like, this cult classic is the movie for you. I feel like it’s the Point Break of wildland firefighting movies, entertaining, but wildly accurate. Every wildland firefighter should see it, in my opinion, just to make fun of.
IYKYK. Truly the fire SUV is one of the most humorously accurate portrayals of a certain type of fire leadership out there. A fun watch.
The Big Burn
2015
If books aren’t your thing, just watch this PBS documentary based on the book online. It goes into everything the book does, such as the history of the Forest Service, the conservation movement in the early 1900s in America, Teddy Roosevelt setting aside public lands, and the devastating 1910 fires in Oregon, Idaho and Washington. it really gives a great overview of how wildland fire shaped American landscapes and politics and shows how they fought such devastating fires back in the day.
Only The Brave
2017
The Hollywood version of the Granite Mountain Hotshot’s 2013 season. 19 out of 20 of their crew members died June 28 in the Yarnell Hill Fire. I appreciate how much they focused on forming a crew and the crew life dynamics and the camaraderie wildland firefighters have. Some of the fire scenes are slightly ridiculous, but overall it was a great tribute to the men and their lives. I watched it with my loved ones which was probably a terrible idea.
Incredible footage from the deadly Camp Fire that overtook the town of Paradise, CA, in 2018. It really brings home how fast wildfires can move and how chaotic evacuating an entire town can be. Also a great overview of the reality of living in wildfire prone areas. The film attempts to answer the question of why catastrophic wildfires are happening more often and with increasing severity and what we can do about it.
Totally bananas thriller featuring Angelina Jolie as an ex-smokejumper/ fire lookout trying to protect a teenager who witnessed his father’s murder and is being pursued by two assassins while they also try to escape lightning storms and a raging wildfire.
This list is not exhaustive, it’s just what I have personally watched and found value in or just entertainment. Some are kind of rough to watch, but tragedy fires should be something every wildland firefighter honors and learns from.
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