Documentary told through eyes of Detroit firefighters

By Julie Hinds Detroit Free Press DETROIT (AP) -- In a trailer for the upcoming documentary "Burn," a veteran firefighter says something that sears into the viewer's memory. "I wish my head could forget what my eyes have seen in 32 years of firefighting," says Dave Parnell, a Detroit firefighting veteran who knows what it's like on the front lines of what the movie calls the battle to save Detroit. The gripping 10-minute trailer went viral on the Web last summer. It was shot before the filmmakers had the money to begin the actual movie. It was posted after cable networks and film companies had told them confidently that their project would never get made. Now directing-producing partners Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez are waiting for the finishing post-production touches and continuing to raise money for the 90-minute documentary. The plan is to have "Burn" ready by spring for film festivals. Hopes are running high for how it will be received. The trailer alone has attracted a national fan base and helped bring aboard Denis Leary, the "Rescue Me" star and firefighter advocate, as an executive producer. But what Putnam and Sanchez want most for the movie is for it to feel real to the firefighters they followed, much like journalists embedded during wartime. "That was our pledge. We basically said we're going to war with these guys. We're doing a tour of duty with them. It's going to be big and epic and spectacular," says Putnam. "But it was always through the eyes of these characters and it all comes back to how it affects them." "Burn" is described as a character-driven documentary told through the eyes of Detroit firefighters. They belong to one of the oldest, proudest and busiest fire departments in the nation, say the filmmakers, and they operate in a city with drastic economic challenges and a sprawling geography dotted with unoccupied homes and commercial spaces. The future and funding of public safety is one of the big issues on Detroit's plate as it tries to stave off financial insolvency. But "Burn" isn't a political statement, according to Putnam and Sanchez. Rather, it's the result of a three-year journey that built a special bond between them and their cinematic subjects -- an effort that defied the conventional wisdom of the documentary game. "Everyone kept telling us we couldn't do it, every step of the way," says Sanchez. "But I could never conceive of going back to the firefighters and saying, 'Hey guys, we can't do it; we can't make it happen.' Firefighters don't say, 'We can't do it.'" Back in December 2008, Putnam and Sanchez, who are both based in Los Angeles, heard about the recent death of Walter Harris, a 17-year veteran of the Detroit Fire Department who died when a roof collapsed on him while he fought an arson fire in a vacant house. Sanchez, who grew up on Detroit's west side and was visiting family at the time, decided to drop by a firehouse to see what was going on. "The first question you have is: 'What is this guy doing risking his life fighting a fire in an abandoned building?'" says Putnam. But where ordinary people ask questions, he and Sanchez took it a step further. They decided to collaborate on a documentary that most of their peers felt was impossible from the start. "Everybody said it was crazy, that there's no one who had made a firefighter documentary, that we wouldn't get any fires, that the technology wasn't ready ...," says Putnam. "Our ambition was too high," adds Sanchez, finishing the sentence. They took the idea to PBS, which helped fund the 10-minute trailer as a way to research whether the concept would work. "They basically had one major question for us, which was go see if there are enough fires in Detroit to tell a compelling story," says Putnam. That wasn't a challenge, as illustrated by the trailer, which includes comments from several firefighters and former Free Press columnist Bill McGraw. In one scene, a source says there were more than 500 arson-related fires during a particular month. When Putnam and Sanchez came to Detroit in August 2009 to shoot the trailer, they were placed at Engine 50 by fire department officials. They went to 21 fires over two days. When PBS chose not to move ahead with the project, which was becoming bigger than expected, Putnam and Sanchez began shopping it around to numerous contacts in the entertainment industry. The negative response was deafening. "We were told roundly by every single one of them there is no interest and no audience for a firefighter show or film," says Sanchez. They put the "Burn" trailer on the Web, where it generated grass-roots support and spread awareness of the project. General Motors stepped in with money to help Putnam and Sanchez start the lengthy filming process, which lasted from December 2010 to October 2011, with a visit in January to shoot some finishing touches. The filmmakers focused mostly on Engine companies 50 and 40 as well as a half-dozen other companies. Although roughly less than a dozen firefighters wound up getting the bulk of the screen time, the aim was always to represent the entire department through the stories told on camera. Parnell, who's also in the trailer and is now retired from the fire department, says Putnam and Sanchez took the time to convey a reality not usually shown in movies or television. In October, "Burn" got a high-profile boost when Leary and his producing partner, Jim Serpico, joined the project as executive producers. "It was some of the best firefighting footage we had ever seen," says Serpico. A significant portion of any proceeds from the movie will go to the Leary Firefighters Foundation to buy gear for the Detroit Fire Department. Putnam and Sanchez continue to seek the money necessary in order for "Burn" to be completed and released. Their hope is that it will show a wide audience that firefighters need the support of the communities they serve. Published: Wed, Mar 14, 2012