Our primary target audience is homeowner associations in the suburban-wildlands interface zone during their annual or bi-annual meetings. The expected outcome is a healthy public debate on the merits of fuel reduction and the question of who should perform the work. ie A county inmate crew, a private contractor or altruistic volunteers from the neighborhood. Each option has its own set of risks, costs and rewards.

The purpose of our video project, The Cannonball Express, is to assist homeowners in preparing for disaster and so to assist fire professionals in preventing another massive fire like the 1991 fire storm in the Oakland-Berkeley hills, just as this kind of disaster becomes more and more common in California and elsewhere in the United States. These fire professionals may not admit to wanting our assistance but we won't hold that against them. We are patriots and heroes too. We're just not cut from the same paramilitary cloth and definitely aren't wearing the same conceptual straight jacket. We see fire as a natural phenomena and not as a destroying enemy. The common ground is in preserving human life and wooden homes.

This motivates us to produce a half hour video that will educate, entertain and motivate people living in the suburban wild-lands interface zone on the subjects of suburban forest fires, fire safety and the environment. Our video will use a soft sell approach, praising the power of Mother Nature, best friends, last chances and redemption, instead of being the usual "talking heads" video with numerous experts and lurid footage of burning homes and panicking and grief stricken people. Our final products will be a high quality, fire safety video with believable characters who are a pleasure to watch and a four color brochure that people can take home with them for future reference.

A secondary target audience consists of people outside the influence of homeowner associations. These are the movers and shakers who can influence public thinking and government policy through legislation, education and persuasion. The hundred or so individuals and organizations which have endorsed this video project in writing are at the top of this list. Our goal with this video is to augment the public outreach of fire professionals and to complement their efforts by getting homeowners to take their fuel reduction problems seriously, in their backyards and beyond. Many fire professionals have already begun to recognize the persuasive limitations of exhorting defensible space around homes. They've realized that homeowners really do like their trees and shrubs. So we expect this video will find a receptive audience among fire professionals. Thus, The Botanist's Scene covers fire safe landscaping.

We believe that after seeing this video, homeowners will begin doing for Mother Nature what they're not always willing to do for themselves in the way of fuel reduction, vegetation management, and habitat enhancement. Thus, The Brushcutter's Scene plants the idea that even the most timid, frail and reclusive homeowners can pool their resources to hire a friendly, state of the art and competent professional to protect their neighborhood.

When the worst does happen and wild fire strikes, toxic runoff from burned homes, charred cars and ruined garages full of paint, pesticide and fertilizer, flows into storm drains with the first winter rains and poisons creeks all the way down to the Bay. This segment serves as a reminder of the consequences of neglect. Thus, The Naturalist's Scene covers storm-water runoff and quality of life issues.

This character driven video will result in a very effective docudrama for a wide variety of audiences and a contribution to public safety that fire professionals can respect and admire, if not fully endorse.

HOMEPAGE