It destroys them, Mann says of the all-consuming and extremely dangerous work.
They have this fatalistic approach to their job, but they keep going.
The same thing happened to me in terms of just wanting to capture it.
Gabriel Mann
According toZipRecruiter, the average annual salary for a forestry technician is $41,000.
Its an equal opportunity destroyer.
Hotshots hate the media.
But if you are in the family then theyre automatically a little bit more comfortable with you.
There is something called the firebug something that happens to you when you witness wildfire firsthand thats hypnotizing.
It really does captivate you.
And that certainly happened to me.
The film is meant to take a stab at convey that feeling of fire season.
Theyre working side by side.
Where it strikes the deepest is at the funerals.
That just is heartbreaking, man.
Its just an intractable reality of being a male.
And some females, too.
They just really, really love to be challenged.
It is a compulsion.
Its not a thought.
It is not an active interest that they have.
Thats what Im here to do.
It really is a unique trait to them thats intractable.
Its a selfless act of service and risking your life.
We need to update their pay so they can afford to live in the places where they protect.
Those need to be passed immediately.
This gets more people killed because you have less experience on every crew.
So we need to stop the bleeding with the workforce and get them paid.
We also need to get very serious about large scale firing operations.
We need to burn millions of acres.
Until California can adopt that mentality, nothings going to change.
Ultimately, I was out there filming it, too.
Phil Donlon:But also, everyones watching it.
The news will be like, Heres Dennis Quaid pulling shit out of his house.
This news coverage is freaking people out.
Theres maybe a nugget or two of valuable information in there but most of it is fear-based stuff.
You have to take personal responsibility.
That means cleaning your gutters and getting rid of the brush around your property.
