The Day California Burned
BBC2, 2019
Broadcast on PBS Frontline as Fire in Paradise, 2019
On 8 November 2018, a megafire swept through northern California, burning down the town of Paradise.
Within four hours, around 30,000 people had lost their homes in the deadliest fire in America for a century.
During on hundreds of hours of footage, this film told the chilling and dramatic account of that day, and explored the impact of climate change on wildfires in the western United States.
“heart-stopping… you can almost feel the heat come out of the TV” – The Times
“a fact-filled, narrated hour that both dramatically recounts the progress of the fire and attempts to come to grips with its greater and lesser causes, human and natural (and nature as altered by humans)"” – LA Times
“The powerful message of human failure to adapt to clear warning signs was felt throughout” – Grierson citation
Nominated – Emmy Outstanding Current Affairs Documentary
Nominated – Grierson Best Single International Documentary
Extract from the BBC film
Looking back at the forest fire that swept through the town of Paradise, California, Daniel recalls how his pregnant wife, Anastasia, went into labor as they were trying to escape and how she, and her child, were saved.