Editor’s note: Evan Barrientos is a filmmaker and photographer based in Fort Collins, Colorado. He recently released a film that shows how forest treatments like prescribed fire and forest thinning can lessen the impacts of wildfire. Fireforest covers events within and partners from the Fire Learning Network region known as the Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative. The Collaborative was one of several entities that provided funding to support Fireforest’s creation. In this blog, Evan introduces the film and shares more about why and how it came to be.

We continue to send our thoughts to communities experiencing the January 2025 wildfire events in Los Angeles, California area. We are committed to providing resources and opportunities for conversation about living better with fire.

To create a society in balance with fire, we need to be able to imagine it. Unfortunately, for the last century, we’ve been saturated with news and stories about the worst aspects of fire. We need new stories about fire, stories that depict us as more than helpless victims or warriors against it. We need to see ourselves as stewards of the land so that we can coexist with fire. For the last four years, I poured my heart and soul into telling a story that demonstrates this.

In 2020, the Cameron Peak Fire was racing uncontrollably towards communities in northern Colorado. When it reached the footprints of a prescribed burn and forest thinning treatment, a near miracle occurred. When I heard what happened, I knew that it needed to be shared far and wide. After four years of filming and editing, that film, Fireforest, is now freely available online. 

Through the accounts of a U.S. Forest Service fire specialist and firefighter, a Larimer Conservation District forester, and a private land manager, the film helps viewers understand how proactive forest restoration can aid firefighters during emergencies. Together, they urge viewers to see fire and forest management as natural and essential parts of the landscape. What happened during the Cameron Peak Fire shows us what forest restoration can accomplish. I hope you will share it.

I created Fireforest to help forest and fire organizations explain the importance of their work and build the social, political, and financial support they need. The film’s release began with a series of 15 in-person screenings followed by panel discussions with forest and fire practitioners. We saw that they were excellent opportunities to bring community members together to talk about beneficial fire and forest management in a non-emergency setting.

I offer Fireforest to you as a tool. I hope you will share this story with the community members, funders, and leaders who need to see it. To receive a detailed toolkit for planning, promoting, and running your own screening of Fireforest, you can request a screening here.

Fireforest was created with support from the Mighty Arrow Family Foundation and Peaks to People Water Fund and collaboration from the Larimer Conservation District, U.S. Forest Service, and Northern Colorado Fireshed Collaborative.

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