New Disney movie has special ties to US Forest Service firefighters

Release Date: Jul 16, 2014

Contact(s): Public Affairs, John Heil (707) 562-9004

Events to celebrate California Smokejumpers' role in Planes: Fire and Rescue

Vallejo, Calif., -When Disney reached out to officials from the U.S. Forest Service over four years ago, they had a lot of questions. They asked about wildland firefighting- all aspects of fighting wildfires, before zeroing in on one in particular: aerial firefighting. Eventually, the creative team from Disney revealed they were working on an animated, feature-length film about firefighting planes.

After meeting with U.S. Forest Service firefighters from the California Smokejumper base in Redding, California, Disney decided their animated sequel would not only be about firefighting planes, but about the men and women that jump out of them.

"Accuracy was really important to them," said smokejumper Joshua Mathiesen. The researchers went into great detail, asking questions such as, "What type of aircraft do you jump from? How does the chute look when you're floating down?" and "What kinds of things do you say on the radio?

"They were really curious about terminology," said Mathiesen, who in the years since the project began is now the Smokejumper Base Manager in Redding. "They wanted to know what a jumper would say in different situations. We basically provided them real world fireline lingo."

The creative team from Disney ended up spending considerable time with Mathiesen and his fellow jumpers. They would weigh in on everything from the camaraderie between firefighters to the way a wildfire sounds up close or the way it glows at night.

So how do Mathiesen and the other smokejumpers feel about the way they are depicted in the movie? "Obviously there's going to be some creative license used in creating the animated versions of smokejumpers. Overall, we were very satisfied with the final product.

"The cartoon characters are actually much cooler than we are," said Mathiesen.

In addition to the smokejumpers' involvement, early on a considerable amount of general background material on wildland firefighting was shared with Disney, including information on the history of wildland firefighting. Fixed wing and rotary aircraft common to wildland firefighting across the West will be recognizable to viewers in the movie.

"Planes: Fire and Rescue" opens in theaters July 18.

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