[PCA] TV: Global Warming & Wildland Fire on 60 Minutes

[Olivia Kwong]

60 Minutes to Feature Story on Global Warming and Wildland Fire

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, Idaho, to visit with Boatner, 
Pincha-Tulley and fire staff on the line at the Castle Rock fire. (For 
more info: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/60minutes/main3415.shtml.)

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.