60 Minutes to Feature Story on Global Warming and Wildland Fire

National Interagency Fire Center

The 60 Minutes crew along with fire staff visited the Castle Rock Fire in Ketchum, Idaho in late August. Pictured from left to right (facing camera): Jay Bertek, El Cariso Hotshots; Rich Schwab, NPS NIFC; Roberta D’Amico, NPS NIFC; Tom Boatner, BLM NIFC; Joel Bach, 60 Minutes; Scott Pelley, 60 Minutes; Eric Reynolds, BLM NIFC. Photo by Kari Greer, NIFC.

On Sunday evening, October, 21, 2007, the CBS News show “60 Minutes” is expected to feature a story on wildland fire and the impacts of global warming. 60 Minutes airs Sundays at 7 p.m. ET/PT, check your local listings for the broadcast time in your area.

Facilitated by the staff of the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) External Affairs Group, the story features interviews on the fire line with Tom Boatner, the Bureau of Land Management’s Chief of Fire Operations in his role as the Chair of the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group, and Jeanne Pincha-Tulley, Chief of Fire and Aviation Management on the Tahoe National Forest in California, who serves as a Type I Incident Commander for California Team 3. Both individuals were interviewed by Scott Pelley, who has been a 60 Minutes correspondent since 2004. Previously, he served as a correspondent for 60 Minutes II and as Chief White House Correspondent for the CBS Evening News. Upon returning from Afghanistan, Pelley traveled to Ketchum, BLM Chief of Fire Operations, Idaho, to visit with Boatner, Pincha-Tulley and fire staff on the line Tom Boatner, speaks to Scott at the Castle Rock fire. (For more info: Pelley on the fire line. Photo by http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml.) Kari Greer, NIFC. National Interagency Fire Center

David Gelbert, the director of Pelley’s feature noted that interest in the subject of global warming and wildland fire was prompted after reading articles by Tony Westerling (http://ulmo.ucmerced.edu/~westerling/index.html) and Thomas Swetnam, Director of Laboratory of Tree- Ring Research at the University of Arizona (http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/~tswetnam/). Swetnam was also interviewed by Pelley on-site at the tree ring lab in Tucson.

Across the board, the fire community conveyed the full spectrum of wildland fire management, focusing on the increase in the size and number of fires over the years, the impact of fuels build-up on fire prone and fire adapted landscapes, changes in fire behavior, the concerns and complexities of managing wildland fire in the wildland urban interface, the role of fire in various landscapes and the changing needs and methods of managing fire. It should be noted that the final story may take on a totally different perspective!

The CBS news feature was supported by the interagency fire community via hours of consultation, research and on-site coordination and support of numerous staff across multiple disciplines. The initial inquiry calls were made by CBS News in mid-June, followed by on-site visits to NIFC in late July and visits to two fire incidents located in Idaho, the East Zone Complex and the Castle Rock fire. 60 Minutes has finished in Nielsen’s top-10 programs a record 23 consecutive seasons and averaged 13.6 million viewers each Sunday evening over the 2005-06 season. Depending upon the football game that precedes the show, there is the potential for up to 22 million viewers.

Scott Pelley conducts an interview with incident Fire staff from NIFC, including Chad commander, Jeanne Pincha-Tulley at the Castle Fisher from the US Fish and Wildlife Rock Fire Incident Command Post. Photo by Kari Service and Dick Bahr from the National Greer, NIFC. Park Service work with the 60 Minutes crew on fire shelter and safety training prior to going to the East Zone Complex near McCall, Idaho in July. Photo by Kari Greer, NIFC.

(Special thanks to Roberta D’Amico, NPS Fire Management at NIFC for overall facilitation and Dave Olson, Boise National Forest Public Affairs Officer for coordination on-site.)