Unacceptable Risk – Firefighters on the Front Lines of Climate Change

“On a day-to-day basis, we’re being surprised. And in this business, surprise is what kills people.” So says Don Whittemore, a career firefighter who has battled many of Colorado’s epic fires over the past two decades. The Story Group recorded the experiences of Whittemore and other firefighters who are repeatedly responding to record-breaking wildfires. Human-caused climate changes are transforming Colorado’s fire environment, bringing higher temperatures, drier fuels, and diseases to forest. These climate impacts mix with other human pressures to create a volatile situation for firefighters and communities. If current trends continue, we can expect more frequent, larger, and more devastating wildfires in Colorado and across the country.

To purchase and download Unacceptable Risk for your own use, go to our On-Demand Vimeo page.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2016 at 3:51 pm. It is filed under All Stories, Americans on the Front Lines of Climate Change, Climate Change, Videos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.