Documenting fire and its effects is a key function of Burn Cycle. Fireproof camera boxes give an inside view into how specific vegetation burns, while following operations provides tactical perspectives. We use this footage for telling important stories and building multimedia experiences.
A fireproof camera captures a prescribed burn followed by time-lapse of post-fire regrowth. Sedgwick Reserve, California, November 2022 - September 2023. In this particular cycle, annual grasses grazed by cattle in a dry year were burned and followed by a very wet year without grazing. This changed the boundaries of a native purple sage grove.
Camera housings designed for the US Forest Service Fire Behavior Assessment Team allow us to record the rapid transformation of the landscape from within fire.
Fireproof camera boxes give a view into how varieties of vegetation burns in different conditions. This recording was made on December 19, 2017 during a Cal Fire managed back-firing operation on the Thomas Fire. The camera was located in chaparral scrub on ranchland within the north-east Los Padres National Forest. Video by Ethan Turpin
Embedded with the Arrowhead Hotshots on a back-firing operation.
The Rey Fire started on August 18, 2016 on Paradise Rd. near Santa Barbara, CA when a drought-stressed oak tree fell across power lines. This selection of clips represents three days documenting efforts to contain the fire through air and ground campaigns. The footage includes views from a fireproof camera box and embedded access to the back-burning operations of Forest Service hotshots. Video by Ethan Turpin
The Thomas Fire raged across California's Ventura and Santa Barbara counties in December 2017, pushed by unusual wind patterns over abundant chaparral growth that had continued to dry without rain late into the year. Many of the over 1000 structures lost in the fire burned in the early hours of the morning, when winds would gust around 50 miles an hour. It appeared this pattern would repeat in the small beach-side town of La Conchita at 3am Thursday Dec. 7th, however a few engine companies, on their third straight night of confrontations, were able to save all the homes in the community. Video by Ethan Turpin
Ethan Turpin spent three days recording the Dixie Fire, joining Santa Barbara County Fire Department strike team doing burn operations and observing extreme fire behavior.