‘Fire Country,’ the new TV show about Cal Fire, is a hit. Just not with Cal Fire. The company has decided it is “a great risk” for the show to be produced by a non-profit nonprofit and is working to shut down the pilot.
The new TV show, with fire fighting as its subject matter, is a hit. Just not with Cal Fire.
The company has decided it is “a great risk” for the show to be produced by a nonprofit corporation, and is working to shut down the pilot.
The new program, “Fire Country,” is a hit. Just not with Cal Fire, the company that operates a network of fire stations and provides fire prevention education.
“Fire Country” is a half-hour documentary that will be broadcast on the public television stations in the Bay Area and Los Angeles for at least nine months.
“There were concerns raised by us, and Cal Fire was a good partner in the process,” said “Fire Country” producer Marybeth Kitcha. “We worked with Cal Fire and its Board of Directors over many, many months.”
According to the “Fire Country” producers, Cal Fire’s concerns came in early July, when the nonprofit corporation that provides fire training for firefighters, Cal Fire Foundation, approached Cal Fire about creating a show about “Fire Country,” and the nonprofit’s chief executive officer, William O’Neil, was quoted as saying:
“Fire Country” would be a new show that takes people beyond the fires to explore what it means to be a firefighter.
Cal Fire did not respond to calls seeking comment on the show, and according to Kitcha, “The Cal Fire Board of Directors did not contact the producers until two weeks ago. This occurred before the pilot was made.”
At the time, “Fire Country” was supposed to be made in the fall, but Cal Fire’s board had decided that the show should be done now and made available to as many people as possible. The nonprofit foundation was formed to educate the public and raise money for fire prevention and prevention programs that would benefit firefighters.
Kitcha said, “Nowhere on the information released to date is evidence that California law enforcement (firefighters) or Cal Fire was ever contacted. Even the Cal Fire Board of Directors did not request to be made a party to the show in any way.”
