Wildfire Discussion and Film

Deschutes County, City of Bend Fire Department, Oregon Department of Forestry and the Deschutes National Forest invite Central Oregon residents to a panel discussion and film on wildfire in our community in mid-June. The goal is to help people understand more about Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) wildfires, wildfire risks to our community and reducing those risks to their personal property.

“The Fire Line: Wildfire in Colorado”, will be showing on Thursday, June 19 at 7 pm at Hitchcock auditorium, Pioneer Building 201 on the Central Oregon Community College (COCC) Campus at 2600 NW College Way in Bend. Following the 30 minute film will be a short evaluation of the film by local law enforcement, county officials, structural and wildland firefighters on living and working in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) boundary between public land and local communities. Panelists include Ed Keith, Deschutes County Forester, Bob Madden, Battalion Chief with the Bend Fire Department, Nathan Garibay, Sergeant with Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office,  George Ponte, District Forester, Oregon Department of Forestry and Craig Letz, Fire Staff Officer for Central Oregon Fire Management Service. There will be a question and answer period following the panels’ statements. Residents are encouraged to ask questions of the panel of fire prevention and firefighting experts. Gary Marshall, former Bend Fire Marshal and current Fire Safety Manager at Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire, will emcee the event.

“The Fire Line”, is a documentary produced by The Denver Post that examines the effects of catastrophic wildfires in the west and their impacts on community members, firefighters, and natural resources. While the focus of the film is on wildfires in Colorado, there are many lessons that Central Oregon communities can derive from their losses. The film discusses the challenges that homeowners face while living in a fire prone environment and how homeowners can better mitigate the risks to personal property, local firefighters and the beautiful Central Oregon landscape.