Wildfires:LA
Los Angeles is surrounded by the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) - the proximity of urban homes to brush-covered hillsides, canyons and state and national forests. The WUI is wildfire country. If you live in these areas, you need to know what to do to protect your homes and your family.
Each year in the summer and fall, Southern California enters the dry season - a combination of high temperatures, lack of rain, and fierce Santa Ana winds that feel as though their gales from a blast furnace. This mix spells potential disaster for the Southland, making wildfires a common, yearly event. Sometimes these fires are kept at bay, often burning bone-dry brush in the hills that surround the city. Sometimes, these wildfires are so fierce they enter the communities of L.A. and threaten homes and residents.
The Los Angeles Fire Department is expert at battling wildfires, but the unpredictability of this natural threat is something no first responder agency, even one at seasoned as the LAFD, can manage all of the time. That's why when calls to evacuate occur, they're more than a suggestion, but an order to save lives.
This FEMA-funded documentary tells the story of wildfires through the eyes of survivors - the people who fled in the face of wildfires and survived to tell their stories of loss and rebuilding. Experts from the Los Angeles Fire Department, as well as fire science professionals weigh in on how you can make your home and property fire resistant, and how you can prepare your family for evacuation.
Armed with the information provided in this documentary, Southern California children and their families can be more prepared and less frightened when the inevitable "Big One" hits.
Acclaimed actor and director and academy-award nominee Ed Harris, narrates Wildfires:LA.