BURN: The Review

It is hard to describe how I feel after seeing BURN. Really really hard. A part of me is pissed off. Pissed off that a city seems to be hanging out its public safety divisions out to dry. They aren't addressing the issues within the city. They are dangerously close to insolvency and instead of sharing the burden with everyone, they target the biggest line item on the budget, police and fire.

That is no way to run a city. That is no way to run a country. The federal government has balked at the idea of cutting defense, but in the city government they cut the defense first and ask questions later. We are not a third world country and having money to pay firemen is amazing, but the Detroit Fire Department fights more fire arson than any other city in America and yet they have the least amount of resources. A travesty in my eyes. 

There are other issues at work in Detroit causing this travesty besides the elected officials downtown. You have a declining population, high poverty rate, high unemployment rate, and Michigan hasn't come up with a way to attract all the manufacturing plants that have left Detroit to give 29% of their population jobs. So what you have left is a shell that has a rotten middle. It was said in the film, a gallon of gas is still cheaper than a movie ticket. 

Putting this whole situation in Detroit in context, Cleveland has done a fantastic job at reinventing what it is. LTV Steel could have been our Detroit moment. The moment large manufacturing started fleeing the city our medical community was expanding and started bringing jobs into Cleveland. Detroit didn't start to decline quickly. It has been a slow process. It will be a slow process to bring it all back. 

There is another part of me that is just bashing my head against the wall. You see all the time that FEMA is passing out grants for all sorts of things all over the country. Why isn't Detroit seeing any of this money? I think the reason is simple. No one in Detroit has applied for them. That is on the shoulders of the Fire Commissioner, plain and simple. I see suburban departments getting new apparatus all the time, partly because they have a good source of funding, partly because someone in the department has the ability to write a grant and get the free money out there for them.

Detroit isn't a lost cause, BURN shows us in the 90 minute run time. Detroit just needs leadership. They need a mayor willing to back them up. They need a commissioner to advocate to the city for them. They need people like Dan Gilbert buying up property in the city and re-purposing them (see also: Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland). They need to the will to want to change. 

BURN needs to be seen by every single elected official, every fire chief, and every firefighter across the nation. This movie needs to be seen by every citizen who pays their fire department for protection. They need to see how their money is being spent. They need to know it is being used in their best interest. 

Will this movie change minds? It could. It could also be written off as union propaganda, and the truth of the matter, it is the most true story about being a firefighter I have ever seen. Listening to firefighters talk about the movie over a beer afterwards there is one thing that was consistent, "The fires were cool, but once they started talking about the politics of the whole thing, the movie got real."

Fore more information about this movie, Detroit Fire Department, and how you could help go to Detroitfirefilm.org. 

Burn

When I first saw the 9 minute trailer for a documentary called 'Burn' I was blown away. This was in the beginning stages of me falling down the fire photography rabbit hole. Burn showed a side of firefighting you cannot get from films like 'Backdraft' or 'Ladder 49' or even TV shows like 'Emergency!' or 'Chicago Fire'.

All those films and TV shows have their place in entertainment, they are all well done for what they are. But 'Burn' was something different. It wasn't a stylized replication of what firefighters go through on a daily basis in Detroit; it's actually what is happening. The footage in the film is almost a few years old at this point, but I think the film shines a spotlight on many aspects of firefighting that many of us don't even know about. 

We see firemen step off the rig in gear, grab tools, and go into fires. We never see what happens on the inside. In this 9 minute trailer, it shows you the heat, the disorientation, and the heartbreak that comes with a home burning to the ground. 

Finally this film is coming to Cleveland and I have my tickets purchased and ready to go. I can't wait to go there. I would love for you to join me in supporting this film and the brave members who see more fire in 24 hours than most firemen across the country might see in a year or even a career.

This movie also does great things in the way of supporting and creating space in city budgets for professional fire photographers. This film proves that the pictures and video we capture have a place in the discussion about firefighting. Without a group of dedicated filmmakers, photographers, and engineers putting cameras on helmets, this movie never happens.

You can buy tickets for January 14th or 15th, showing at Tower City. If you are a firefighter attending the show on the 15th with me bring your helmet and come 30 minutes early. I want to get some photos of Cleveland supporting Detroit Fire Department and the filmmakers and we can meet the some of the Detroit Firefighters that are featured in the film.  

Tickets are $20.00 online. This is not a typical price for a movie, but this is not a typical movie and it is being delivered in an atypical way. The directors and producers are raising money to put this DVD out by themselves. This is a daunting task with a high cost. 

For tickets go here. 

To donate go to detroitfirefilm.org