VIDEO: Young Kelowna filmmakers bring us to the frontlines of B.C. wildfires in new minidoc

KELOWNA – Three filmmakers had some burning questions about the men and women working on the frontlines of the fire suppression efforts in B.C.

“What is it like to be on the frontlines of a fire? And, who are the men and women brave enough to do it?”

Tommy DeWitt, 18, Mitchell Kucher, 18, and Stephen Kucher, 18, make up TMS Productions in Kelowna. 

They set out to answer these questions by talking to several firefighters ranging in age from 19 to 47 years old, and taking the viewers on a visual journey around the Interior.

Mitchell says the idea was sparked after a previous project idea proved impossible with the smoke.

"We thought, 'Why don't we use this to our advantage and do something involving the smoke?'" Mitchell says in a phone interview. 

From there he says he got the idea while eating supper with his family and his twin brother, Stephen.

"I feel not many people know what it's like or who's fighting the fires," he says, "People just hear, 'Yeah they're fighting the fires,' but they don't know who it is, and what it's like."

Here are the results of their work, published Monday, Sept. 3, to YouTube.


To contact a reporter for this story, email Shelby Thevenot or call (250) 819-6089 or email the editor You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

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Shelby Thevenot

Shelby has lived across Canada. She grew up near Winnipeg, Manitoba then obtained her B.F.A in Multidisciplinary Fine Arts at the University of Lethbridge in Lethbridge, Alberta. In 2014 she moved to Montreal, Quebec to study French and thrived in the Visual Journalism Graduate Diploma program at Concordia University. Now she works at iNFO News where she strives to get the stories that matter to the Okanagan Valley community.

Member of:

The Professional Writers Association of Canada

Quebec Writers Federation

English Language Arts Network