Reality of firefighting hits Web as video series

By Jamie Thompson
FireRescue1 Editor

SAN FRANCICSO — Allowing a camera crew into your firehouse normally means one thing — the calls will come to a grinding halt.

It’s this hurdle David Furtado had to overcome in persuading the firefighters of San Francisco to allow him to film their working lives.

But his efforts paid off, resulting in “The Battalion — The Series,” a Web-based reality video series that follows the lives of fire, EMS and rescue crews, both in the California city and more recently in Washington D.C. and Prince George’s County, MD.

“When I walked into a firehouse for the first time, I would have firefighters simply say, ‘I will not be on film,’” Furtado said. “Firefighters don’t like a camera being around, it’s like a bad omen or a cloud being over the firehouse. Often, nothing seems to happen when you have a camera there and these guys like to go to fires.”

Fortunately for Furtado, who formed Tule Fog Productions LLC in 1997 to develop and produce original content for television, films and the Internet, the calls did come in.

Split into two series, “Twenty-Four Hours with the San Francisco Fire Department” explores the thoughts and activities of the city’s firefighters, while “Women On The Watch” focuses on the expanding roles of women within the department.

The initial success of the filming in San Francisco has led to interest in having the same treatment from departments across the country. Furtado was actually approached by the Washington D.C. Fire Department — rather than the other way around — to shoot life at its firehouses. Bosses there made contact after seeing the initial San Francisco “webisodes” on TheBattalion.tv last year.

Furtado admitted some firefighters can be apprehensive at the thought of being followed around by cameras because of their fears that the fraternal nature of firehouse culture might not come across well on film.

“Some of the humor can be very dark around a firehouse simply because of the things firefighters have to deal with,” Furtado said. “They can maybe say things that the average citizen shouldn’t hear or basically just wouldn’t understand why they were saying it. Some of the people I think were scared of that side of things being seen.”

Furtado first came up with the concept of filming the life of firefighters back in 2002, and several months later gained permission from the San Francisco Fire Department to start filming.

Initially, he envisioned The Battalion project being aired on network TV, but has run into frustrations dealing with inappropriate suggestions for content and direction from producers.

“Some have wanted fluff stuff, and to create drama and get the firefighters to do stupid things,” Furtado said. “I felt that these guys just didn’t get it. I just didn’t want to do that or to sell myself for the money.”

Despite such setbacks, Furtado kept filming and eventually decided to host the project online, launching TheBattalion.tv last year.

The quality of the episodes set them apart from conventional online video. Each webisode is presented with the look and feel of a fully produced episodic series for television, according to Furtado. They can be watched in full screen-mode online or downloaded to be viewed on a handheld device.

The most gratifying aspect of the project so far, said Furtado, has been the feedback he’s gotten from firefighters, including the fact that some departments are using webisodes for training purposes.

“It surprises me, it pleases me — I get emotional just thinking about things like that,” he said. “I’m being respected by people who saves lives, and who am I to have that?

“It just blows me away that people use our show for training.”