OVERVIEW

FIRE LINE: NORTH CASCADES will chronicle a season on the fire line with the U.S. Forest Service's wildland firefighters in the rugged mountains of the Pacific Northwest. We will follow over 200 firefighters as they battle the blazes that threaten our forests, natural resources, and the towns, cities, and inhabitants of this area. These are some of the most DANGEROUS JOBS in the world. One mistake or error in judgment can result in serious injury or death. Rigorous training, discipline, physical fitness, courage, and skill are the job requirements and mitigate danger extremly effectively. Safety is always the top priority, but wildfires are unpredictable and can blow up from a campfire to a thousand-acre inferno in a matter of hours. Every fire, no matter how small, is dangerous.

The Forest Service has granted SMG unprecedented, exclusive access to document all the wildland firefighters in this region throughout the fire season from July to September 2008. We will use multiple HD camera crews with the firefighters, have camera crews at all the major fires, equip firefighters with HD video cameras, have cameras mounted on airplanes, helicopters, and engines... getting as close to operations as anyone ever has.