Lake County Screening Of Wildfire Doc 'Wilder than Wild' Gets Community Talking

Speaker 1: 00:00 California. This Lake County is an area that has plenty of experience with wildfire in 2015 three fires including the deadly valley fire ripped through the county. Kate QED, reporter Chloe Veltman, recently headed to lake county for a screening of a new documentary on a practice aimed at stopping wildfires from growing out of control. But one that doesn't sit well with a lot of Californians. The documentary wilder than wild brings up the controversial topic of prescribed [inaudible] Burns by native American tribes and other supporters. Something that film screening organizer Magdalena Valderrama Says Lake County residents are now open to hearing more about what we're finding is that a lot of firefighters who come are trained in cities and they're a little reluctant to engage in prescribed fire. Even though prescribed fire is recognized as a tool around 250 locals have come together to watch the film. It's a community theater. Many of them, including Valderrama, lost their homes to recent wildfires like the valley fire of 2015 there wasn't anything we could do after the fire. Valderrama and her husband cofounded a nonprofit to help people in Lake county rebuild and protect their homes and neighborhoods. The post movie Q and a focuses on how residents can help each other stay safe. Local officials, representatives from native American tribes and firefighters are on hand to answer questions. Speaker 2: 01:26 I didn't know who to call. Speaker 1: 01:27 Clear Lake residents. Robert Bella recently witnessed someone mowing a lawn in windy 90 degree weather. That's a big no, no in fire prone areas. Speaker 2: 01:37 I was intimidated about stopping somebody, but how do we handle people who are not thinking Speaker 1: 01:45 foreign officials tell him to call his fire department or nine one one hidden valley lake residents. Carolyn Graham shares a concern about homeowners installing generators Speaker 2: 01:55 and what can we do to make sure that people, if they're going to get a generator, that they know how to set it up and operate it in a safe manner. Speaker 1: 02:03 Lake County Fire Marshall, Mary Jane Montana says residents should seek help from their local building and fire departments. Speaker 2: 02:09 Don't listen to somebody who tells you to get a double male plug and plug plugging into your dryer out. That Speaker 1: 02:14 Valderrama says, getting people to talk to each other is key in this rural county made up of unincorporated towns that pride themselves on being self sufficient. Instead of being in all these little silos, it's time for us to kind of come out of our hidey holes and start meeting each other that have been more than 200 screenings of wilder than wild around the state since the film came out a year ago with many more planned. And that story came from KQ Ed reporter Chloe Veltman.