 Well, that guy seemed to have his act together. You don't see that very often. Yeah, surprised me. I thought we had a big story here. Looks like it's just some desperate arcade owner looking to spread around his liability. The director you talked to, he didn't seem like most government types. He knew exactly what he wanted to say, and he knew how to say it. It's been a while since I talked to him, but I'll tell you one thing. He's been practicing his media relations. Critics are charging your department was negligent in inspections of the fun house. That this fire could have been prevented. How do you respond? Safety is the number one priority of the Fire Marshal's office. We had inspected the property involved in this tragic fire just a month ago and found that it fully met all state safety codes. We also inspected the property after the fire and discovered that for some reason the owner had decided to use gasoline to clean the floors and that one of his employees had been smoking on the job. It's pretty clear this fire could have been prevented and that the children who were hurt could have been spared their suffering. Hello, I'm Dick Wynn. In this program we'll be taking an in-depth look at mastering the skills that will make you better able to deal with the news media. In the first video of this series we talked about some of these skills in general terms. Now we're going to spend some time really getting into the subject of media relations. We'll talk about developing messages that reporters will want to use. We'll talk about how to present those messages in the most effective manner. And we'll show you how to deal with reporters' toughest questions. Along the way we'll be pointing out the differences between print and broadcast news, the different kinds of interview situations and how you will want to adjust your approach to different types of questions from reporters. In each part of this program we'll be showing you segments from some typical interviews so you can get a better sense of the techniques you can use to improve your performance. And while the National Wildfire Coordinating Group's focus is fire, we'll be seeing people in a variety of occupations talking about a number of different subjects. The reason for this diversity is to emphasize that the skills we'll be discussing can be used by anyone who faces the media in any kind of situation. Now the key to success with the news media is mastering three basic areas. Choosing your message, presenting your message and defending your message. First, let's focus on choosing your message. Why do you believe that Elm City should allow the Clark Company to build a coal plant? Well, let me take you back a few years. You know, we've always been real close to not having enough power to supply the town's needs reliably. I think it was about five years ago that the folks from Clark came to us and suggested the idea for this coal plant. Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time and even though the rate of growth has not been the same the last couple of years, it still seems like something that we probably still ought to do. I mean, a lot of people have put a lot of time and effort into this whole process. It would be a shame not to use this effort constructively. So there's no really pressing reason to build a plant now. Why do you insist on going forward? Jobs, need, taxes, stable supply. I'd give you a lot of reasons for going forward. Let me ask you a hypothetical question. Knowing what you know now, do you think it was a good idea to allow Clark to get as far as they've gotten in the permitting process? That's a difficult question for me to answer. I believe we're making the right decision to press on. Many people will be put to work as a result of building this plant. Taxes will be lowered as a result of the revenues generated by this plant. We may even get to shut a couple of those old plants down their metal grove. Makes sense to me to go forward, I think. How did you feel about that interview? Sounded like there was a lot of good information there, right? But let me ask you, if you were the reporter, do you think the interview subject made it easy for you to take a couple of good pieces of that interview for use in a story on tonight's news? Well, I'm afraid not. What happened is what happens thousands of times every day all across America. People interviewed by reporters simply haven't taken the time to decide exactly what they want to say to best communicate their position on a particular issue. A reporter has a reason for wanting to speak with you. Good communicators make sure they know exactly what that reason is, and they craft their messages to be clear and responsive. Once you know what a reporter is after, you must take the time to put together your planned response in a logical, strategic manner. What do I mean by strategic? Well, for every interview, you should prepare a response that anticipates what a reporter is going to ask and allows you to get your key message points across no matter what you're asked. Let me show you what I mean. Reporters are sent out to cover a story because it has some kind of news hook that potentially makes it interesting. Think back to that brief interview we just saw. The news hook was that air quality in Elm City could be at risk for the licensing and instruction of the new coal plant. Local residents were starting to express a sentiment also, one that's becoming more and more common today. It's called NIMBY, which stands for Not in My Backyard. For every newsworthy issue that you'll be questioned about, there'll always be a few key message points you'll want to use to present your point of view in answer to reporter's questions. You'll want to write down those message points in preparation for your interview. In the case of the coal plant, the points might include such things as this plant uses the most environmentally sound technology in the world. The plant will provide many economic benefits, including jobs, tax revenues, lower electric rates. The plant assures a stable supply of energy for the region. The plant construction is being sponsored by the local utility. Admissions from the plant will be well below regulatory standards. The town would benefit from funds promised by the builders to improve the quality of life in the town. Some older, dirtier power plants could be closed down. You get the idea. There are always many points that you may find useful in responding to a reporter. And the reason for taking the time to go through this exercise is really quite simple. It helps to clarify for you the points you could make in an interview. It forces you to focus on exactly what you want to say to a reporter. And it gives you an opportunity to evaluate the strength or weakness of your arguments before you meet the news media. Think about that interview we saw. Did it sound like the commissioner had taken the time to go through this process, or did he more likely just wing it? Well, once you've got a listing of the points you can use to support your position, your next step should be to decide whether each point is an offensive one or a defensive one. For example, in our coal plant interview, the points about economic benefit to the community and stable power supply are both offensive points. A useful defensive point might be the statement that the plant emissions will be well below all regulatory standards, or that other dirty plants will close. Once you've identified your key message points and you've decided whether they're offensive or defensive, what's left is to select the strongest two or three points in each category and decide how to present them. But before we move on to discuss the skills needed to present your message most effectively, let's take another look at our interview and see what happens when the Utilities Commissioner has taken the time to identify what his key message points are. Notice how he uses his key offensive points in responding to a general question and his key defensive points when the questions get a little tougher. And also notice how he uses a positive point in each answer. Why do you believe that Elm City should allow the Clark Company to build a coal plant? The Clark Company electricity plant makes sense for three important reasons. First, the plant will assure our community of a stable supply of fairly priced electricity for many years to come. Second, the plant will use the most environmentally sound technology in the world today. Third, the plant will provide many important economic benefits to our community. For example, the Clark Company has pledged to employ local workers to build and operate the plant. They have pledged $200,000 per year to assist us in keeping our school system the best in the region. Isn't it true that we really don't need the power that that plant will produce? By the year 2000, that's just a few years from now, we'll need 30% more power than we have now. It takes seven years to get a plant permitted and constructed. We don't need the power now, but it would be irresponsible for us to wait until we're suffering brownouts to address our future needs. When we've flipped the light switch and nothing happens, we've waited too long. After choosing your message points, you'll next want to focus on just how you want to present your message. In this portion of our program, we're going to cover a number of subjects. We'll be talking about what to say, how best to say it, and what you need to remember when dealing with very different characteristics of television, radio and print news media. Let's take a look at a couple of short interview segments. Both focus on the same subject matter, which do you think is more effective? Critics are charging your company with the fish kill. What's your response? We at NCG categorically deny that we're responsible for the water-borne agents that appear to be responsible for the mortality among the various fish species in the Phillips River. NPDES permit clearly prohibits wastewater discharge in excess of one milligram per liter of CU and our WWMT has confirmed that we were never in violation of our permit specifications. Critics are charging your company with the fish kill. What's your response? Our number one priority at National General is protection of the environment. The members of this community were very concerned about the mysterious death of so many fish in the Phillips River. Even before we started building this plant, we volunteered to install an extensive monitoring system so that we could make sure that we weren't doing anything to harm the river. We checked and rechecked every monitor and we verified that there have been no discharges from our plant that could be killing the fish. Our president asked the technical staff to volunteer their services to the city to run tests or do anything else that could help resolve this sad situation. Quite a bit of difference between those two presentations. Both contain information, but I think we'd all agree that the second interview would be much more persuasive when broadcast or seen in print. And the whole issue of persuasion is fundamental to effective media relations. There's about 8% content, 42% appearance, and 50% delivery. Now we may all agree that it shouldn't be that way, but since that's the reality we face, how things are packaged and presented is critical to success in dealing with the news media. As I said in the first video in this program series, perception is reality. Let's take a look first at some general principles that apply to all the mass media. Keep in mind at all times that the audience for your message is not the reporter, but people who are reading the papers and watching the TV and listening to the news on their car radios. The reporter is an intermediary and the news medium is a conduit for your message to reach the audience. Also remember that the reporters, editors and people who own papers and stations are interested in presenting a good, interesting product every day. You can help them do that and accomplish your goals too. Do you have any questions from a reporter? Well, I'd say in a concise, understandable and compelling manner. And when you put yourself in a reporter's shoes, what do you want to get from an interview subject? Good quotes that you can use to make your story concise, understandable and compelling. So in many ways, you and the reporter are basically after the same thing. Your challenge is to make the reporter's job easier so that you and your organization benefit from balanced coverage. Once you've chosen your message points, now's the time to put them in a form that makes it likely that a reporter will use your quotes as the basis for the story. You can frame the debate in your terms by crafting your message points to talk from the viewpoint of the public interest, talk about benefits, humanize the issue, put the message in positive terms. For example, fire safety experts always say stop, drop and roll if you catch fire. They never say don't run if you catch fire. Use colorful words and contemporary references. Make yourself quotable by using words like first and best. Put your thoughts into simple, complete sentences. Remember the billboard rule. Professional communicators use no more than seven words on a billboard because that's all you can take in as you speed by. When you're talking to a reporter, try to keep your points concise but when you present your message you have to keep in mind the different requirements of the various news media. Television is the medium of pictures. Both in terms of the actual videotape as well as in the words that support the video footage. Stories that appear on television news fit into a very conventional format that viewers have come to expect. On average, stories will run about one minute and 40 seconds and you'll be doing very well if you can get two 15 second quotes or sound bites as they're called into your story. That means you only have time to get your message across in two or three sentences for each quote. Television is not the medium to start a response with the history of the problem. There simply isn't time and the words need to support the pictures. Radio is the medium of immediacy. When local news is breaking you turn on the radio. Your challenge as a communicator with radio is sending your message in concise, clear terms, always keeping in mind that you're not getting any help from pictures. Keep your answers to around 10 seconds. It's a lot easier for a radio reporter to use your good 10 second quote than to try to rewrite what you said in a longer answer. For a radio interview you need to be organized, ready to go, and able to respond in a way that listeners can easily visualize what you're saying and feel good when you're saying it. Print usually allows you to present your message points in a little more detail, but remember that television has changed newsgathering forever. Today even print interviews need to be planned as if they were going to be TV interviews. Certainly a publication such as USA Today is much more like network TV news than like traditional newspapers of years gone by. Just because you may have more time to discuss an issue with a print reporter doesn't mean that you can be any less nervous. Remember, print interviews often take place over the phone with the reporter trying to type what you're saying. No matter whether the interview is over the phone or in person, it's a lot easier for the reporter if you respond to questions in concise, simple sentences. I said before that it was important to keep in mind that the public is your audience when you give an interview, not the reporter. Whatever the medium, put yourself in the shoes of the audience and present your messages immediately. Now, because television is such an all-pervasive medium, and because it's the medium of pictures, let me take just a few minutes to cover some of the basics for appearing on television. Of course, whole books have been written on this subject alone, but here are some key points regarding appearance. And remember, as we said before, persuasion on television is at least 50% appearance. Some misguided people will tell you that if you go on TV, just be yourself. Unfortunately, that's just bad advice. We live in a three-dimensional world and television isn't 3D, at least not yet. What happens when you appear on television is that your natural look is flattened. You've got to compensate. And what's required is for you to exaggerate your features somewhat. You need to keep a slight smile on your face when you're on television in order to come across looking natural. If you're being interviewed standing up, put one foot slightly in front of the other so you won't be tempted to look away back and forth. And if you're seated, you'll need to lean forward in your chair because sitting up straight will make you look like you're slouching. Look right at the reporter or interviewer who is asking you the questions. The slightest eye movement is magnified on TV. It's distracting and it'll make you look as though you have something to hide. The big, bold gestures you learned in drama class are great for the stage, but television is an intimate medium. And your gestures must be in keeping with the size of the screen. If you use your hands, use them here in front of you and avoid any hand motions that will be seen going in and out of the screen. Use your head and your eyes to animate your message points and keep your voice slow and steady. When you appear on camera, you'll have a tendency to rush and get breathless. Finally, remember that when you're on, you're on. Until the interview is over, act as if the camera is on you at all times. Directors always like to get those nervous reaction shots to tough questions. Let's take a brief look at what we've just talked about. First, we'll see a mayor before he began practicing his television manner. Then we'll see what a little practice can do. Every day in Elm City, we produce enough garbage to cover Memorial Stadium's football field two feet deep. Now, it costs our town more than $300,000 every year to handle all of the garbage trash. That's $360 for every family in town. Today, I'm pleased to announce that we're declaring war on garbage. Today we begin a new chapter in our history by recycling our aluminum cans, our glass, our newspapers. We'll be saving approximately $80,000 this year alone. But just as important as the money, we'll be doing the right thing to help protect our environment and to ensure that the town we all love is as final place to live for our children as for our children's children. Every day in Elm City, we produce enough garbage to cover Memorial Stadium's football field two feet deep. Now, it costs our town more than $300,000 every year to handle the town's trash. That's $360 for every family in town. Well, today I'm pleased to announce that we're declaring war on garbage. Today we begin a new chapter in our history. By recycling our aluminum cans, our glass, and newspapers, we'll be saving approximately $80,000 this year alone. But just as important as the money, we'll be doing the right thing to help protect our environment and ensure that the town we all love is as final place to live for our children as our children's children. Tylerville started its recycling program two years ago. It's taken us a while to catch up, right, Mr. Mayor? Well, sure. You have to understand, though, that in Elm City here, we have a different process than our friends to the north. Here we have to have consensus approval from the Board of Health and from the Planning Board and City Council. I'm going to give it my final approval, so all these things take time. A much improved Mayor the second time around. But while I think we'd all agree that he has his presentation skills down pretty well, he did have some trouble with that follow-up question from the reporter. What would have made a better answer? A better sound bite on tonight's newscast. Well, that's the subject of the second part of our program on dealing successfully with the news media. We'll take a hard look at defending your message, and especially how to answer all kinds of tough questions from reporters. Now that we've discussed choosing your message, framing the message, and presenting the message, we turn to a real challenge, defending your message. This is the area I think we all dread the most, but like every other difficult activity, there are some basic skills and techniques that will make it a lot easier. Now I'm not saying that you'll ever actually enjoy going toe-to-toe with an aggressive reporter, but you can be a whole lot more comfortable than you probably are now. Let's take a look first at what can happen when the questions start flying on tough issues. What if the fire takes a turn and heads back for the place where those endangered species are? Well, that could make things tough. I guess we'll just have to hope that the wind doesn't shift, and that could make for a very tough situation. We've got another issue. Conservation groups say that you're permitting overgrazing at the expense of the wildlife habitat. Is that a priority because you're paid lease money for the grazing pastures? No. It might not seem like it, but we really do care about the wildlife. Let me just ask you one more quick question. I know you're busy. Have you stopped sending in more firefighters to that area that you failed to protect? Well, yes. Well, actually, I guess I really mean no. I'm not sending anybody else back into that area. Those exchanges are what can happen to a spokesperson who isn't well prepared to defend message points. Were the questions fair? Well, whether they were fair or not, they were asked, and they needed the best responses that could be given. Remember, the news media has drawn to conflict and controversy. Reporters see themselves as just doing a job asking you the tough questions. Along the way, though, all good reporters have discovered questions can be just as important as the subject matter they're asking about. Let's take a look at some common techniques used by reporters and see how you can successfully handle questions. Remember, you're not under any obligation to answer questions the way the reporter wants you to. You should always be working to take control of an interview so that you can best present and defend your message points. The first technique that reporters may try is the hypothetical what-if question. Don't fall for this. At most, a hypothetical question deserves a hypothetical answer. Try to take one of your key message points and answer that question without addressing the hypothetical. Isn't there a chance the fire will turn and you could lose the historic old lodge? There's always a yes answer to a hypothetical question such as that one. The real issue here is what we're doing to protect the lodge from loss of this fire. The answer to that question is that our plan makes protection of structures a priority. We have stationed our firefighters and equipment to defend the old lodge. In the unlikely event that the fire makes a turn, we're prepared to aggressively fight it. Reporters also will use a variation on the old have you stopped beating your dog question. This is the question with no answer. Again, answer such a question with one of your key message points. Whatever you do, you don't begin answering one of these questions with a yes or no. The temptation to edit the tape without your supporting statement may be just too great for some reporters. Have you stopped your unsuccessful attempt to keep the diesel oil from seeping into the river? We're totally committed to minimizing the impact of the oil spill in the Johns River. Our crews have put an earthen dyke completely around the spill and we expect a cleanup crew and we've actually calculated the amount of the spill that's going into the river as the equivalent of only about two coffee cans. We expect to be successful in controlling the spill. Force the reporter to ask a question before you start to respond. Sometimes a reporter will just start a statement and let it trail off in hopes that you'll jump in and start talking. Be careful of questions that aren't questions. Make reporters do their work. They ask the questions. You answer them. Don't worry of a reporter who doesn't follow up with a question right away. This is an old trick. Don't be tempted to keep talking to fill the dead air. When you've finished what you have to say, stop talking. The dead air is the reporter's problem, not yours. Let's see. Fire in rough country. Old equipment. It must be... Do you have a question for me? Sure. How long have you been using a lot of old equipment on this fire? Mostly equipment that we have assigned has been in service for five years or less. We do have a few additional pieces of equipment that are older. They're all in good shape, well maintained and suitable for the jobs assigned. Okay, I... Finally, we've all faced the loaded question. A reporter will repeat something that's not accurate and base a question on the inaccurate statement. Your answer to questions such as these first debunk the incorrect statement. Then you present one of your message points as the answer to the question. We're hearing reports that one of your fire crews left some hikers they were helping and fled the oncoming fire. What's your comment? Well, that's not only untrue, but it's totally unfair to the dedicated men and women that have been fighting this fire for the last six days. Let me tell you what actually happened out there. After the firefighters found the hikers, they escorted them back to an evacuation bus. And then the firefighters went back to fight the fire, which they'd been so successfully doing for the last week. So this isn't a negative story. This is a positive story of rescue and the dedication of a very outstanding group of individuals. Now let's talk about different types of interview situations and what you need to look out for in defending your messages. When you're doing a live interview, you have a lot more control over delivery of your message. Keep in mind that what you are saying is really directed to the audience and to the listeners, not to the reporter or interviewer. Think of how you would receive the message if you were home watching or listening. What you're saying, they're hearing. You don't have to worry about what will be edited out. In the taped or edited interview, however, you must take special care to get your message points out clearly and concisely. Short answers end up being used. Don't make it hard for a reporter to edit your remarks. For all types of interviews and sessions the key to success is preparation and practice. One effective approach is to anticipate what I call the dirty questions you're likely to get from a reporter. Have someone play the role of a reporter and answer the questions as if you were actually talking to the press. It takes a thick skin to go through this exercise. But I guarantee you that when you take the time to do this, your encounter with the reporter will be much less stressful. Before leaving this section on answering questions from reporters, let me review several other key points. Whenever you're faced with a negative question always try to state the positive opposite. For example... Isn't it true that this fire will be an ecological disaster? A fire like this will provide for the renewal of vegetation. It's part of the normal cycle of life in the forest. See how effectively this approach works. You know you've done a good job when a reporter says, why do you say that? You've turned things around. Now you have an opportunity to talk about the positive and negative aspects of wildland fire management. Another thing you want to avoid is quantifying the size of the peril. Don't use words like only to describe a difficult situation. See how a skilled communicator comes across by not diminishing the seriousness of the situation. You've lost some houses in this fire, right? Unfortunately, we did lose five houses. We have assigned all the available firefighters and equipment to prevent further spread of the fire to houses within the area. Many of us live around here with our families. And the thought of even losing one home is difficult to accept. Negative questions need to be repositioned. Don't waste your precious time repeating a negative when you could be hammering home a positive point. There seem to be only two reasons why this fire is still burning. Either you don't have the people in the equipment to do the job or you're not waging an effective campaign against this fire. Which is it? Our job is to put the fire out and that's exactly what we're doing. We're using firefighters and resources in locations where they can work safely but also be the most effective. Our strategy for combating the fire is also working very well. In just 48 hours we've contained 80% of the fire and we expect to have more. What about dealing with a reporter who seems to have an agenda? You know, the type that keeps interrupting you or the type that raises his or her voice in hopes that you'll lose your cool and begin to mix it up. A few common sense rules apply to these kinds of interviews. If someone interrupts you and you've already said one of your key message points, let the interruption pass. If the reporter keeps it up let he or she finish the new question. If it was interrupted and you turn to the reporter and you say what was that next question? Don't ever be bullied in an interview situation. Exercise your rights especially in a news conference where your number one priority as a communicator is to keep control of the situation and prevent what I call a feeding frenzy. And most importantly don't ever get angry no matter how outrageous a reporter may get. You should practice the law of the inverse proportion on any reporter who suddenly starts to get aggressive. When the reporter gets louder and faster you get softer and slower. If the interview is live the audience may start rooting for you. If the interview is taped you can be sure that the reporter's provocative tone will not be in the news clip but you can count on your angry answer showing up if you allow yourself to be goaded by the reporter. I urge you to study the number of proven techniques that you can use to make yourself more successful in dealing with the news media. I urge you to study the supporting material that accompanies this program. Use the reference card in the checklist and you'll get more and more comfortable dealing with the press. You know, not one person you feel as a good communicator was born with those skills. The more you do it the easier it becomes and the better you'll represent yourself and your agency. Reporters are professionals just like you. They tend to view the world in negative terms because their job is to cover the news and the news is most often negative. You on the other hand are responsible for presenting your agency in the most positive terms. Winning the media relations struggle often comes down to just how well you're able to get reporters to accept positive answers to negative questions. It's a challenge. It's a big challenge. But it's something that everyone can learn to do if you're willing to work at it. There's an old story about a young boy stopping an elderly man on the streets of New York to ask the question how do I get to Carnegie Hall? Without hesitation the man answers practice, practice, practice. Do you remember that newscast we saw at the beginning of the first program in this series? You'll recall that it seemed negative and unfair. Let's take another look at that same situation. This time the interview subjects will be using the skills we've talked about in this program. I think you'll find that you'll like the outcome much better. Look, here's the fire information officer. Can I ask you a question? Sure. I'll handle Channel 9. Okay. Have you stopped losing the battle or is the fire still out of control? I have a second to catch my breath. It's been a busy morning. Anything else that you'd like to talk about other than the general fire information? It's just general overview stuff, how the firefighting is going, stuff like that. Anything else? Well, there's some criticism about an endangered animal that might be lost, a weasel or a gopher, something like that. Okay, I'm ready. Go ahead. Have you stopped losing the battle or is the fire still out of control? Our job here is to control this fire and that's exactly what we're doing. We're started by three helicopters and two air tankers. Also five logging company bulldozers are also being used to fight this fire. We have the resources and we're getting the job done. Have you figured out what started the fire yet? Yesterday afternoon, a forestry division crew was burning an area of logging slash as part of our management plan. The weather forecast only called for a minimal wind for a 24-hour period. Unfortunately, there was a period of high wind which caused the fire to spread outside its prescribed area. Someone decided it was okay to burn during this drought? As I said, our management plan requires us to do some burning under very carefully controlled conditions. In this case, we use the most conservative restrictions on this burn. We are more aware than anyone else exactly how dry it's become. The wind was not supposed to be a factor. When the wind began to spread the fire, the crew took exactly the right action to handle this situation. They began an aggressive effort to control the fire and really call for backup assistance. Conservation groups seem to be worried about a place called Maple Creek and about an endangered animal that lives there. Do you know anything about that? Yes, I do. Everyone involved in managing this fire has received a comprehensive briefing. That briefing contained information on protecting an area where an endangered species known as the woodland mink live. So the conservationists are right then. Your inability to get this fire under control has put the woodland mink in danger. We're very aware of our responsibility to protect the woodland mink and the other wildlife in the forest. Forestry, personnel, our conservationists too and where every bit is interested in the future of the forest and wildlife is everyone else. Let me assure you that this fire is being managed very carefully and we're doing our best to protect the woodland mink. Are the woodland mink in danger? At this point the fire is not threatening the area where the woodland mink live. In fact, the fire is burning in the opposite direction. Hypothetically, if the wind shifts the mink could be in danger. I've always thought that a hypothetical question deserved a hypothetical answer. Let me assure you that we are on top of this situation. We are managing this fire with sufficient personnel and resources and we are very aware of all the special considerations including the woodland mink. Thanks. Just one more question. I know you're busy. Just between you and me given the drought situation it confuses me. Do you really think it was a good idea to have a log-in slash? If you're asking me to comment off the record it's my policy to answer every question like the answer might appear on the first page of the New York Times. On this issue, the burning of logging slashes is important to forest management. Overall we have an outstanding record and it's easy to second guess this fire because it got away from the crew but remember the wind was not supposed to be a factor. If we never burn because something might happen we'd never get anything accomplished and we wouldn't be doing our job by burning the forest in the best way possible. Thanks for your help. You're welcome. It's not an easy job. Excuse me, would you mind moving that light just a little bit please? Thank you, that's much better. Now what was your question? Now about the fire. I was down on the fire line earlier and it's obviously a bad one. Are you losing the battle? Wildfires always look dramatic but we're winning this battle because we have a comprehensive plan in place that most effectively uses our resources. The fire started here and it spread to this location driven by winds that were not forecasted. We've placed our resources our hand crews and our dozers to flank the fire we'll pinch off the fire in this location. We expect to contain the fire within 48 hours. Where's Maple Creek? Maple Creek is here approximately three miles from the head of the fire which is moving in the opposite direction. So that's the area where the Woodland and Mink live? In the comprehensive briefing that we received before we took over the fire we were informed that the Woodland and Mink live in the Maple Creek area. Now we use this information in the earliest stages of managing this fire to protect the Woodland and Mink habitat when it was threatened by fire. So what are you doing to protect that area now? We are very aware of the importance of protecting the Woodland and Mink. However the head of the fire has moved three miles from that area and we're concentrating our efforts in an area of greatest threat. Right now we have the responsibility of protecting a valuable stand of commercial timber but you can be assured that we'll continue to monitor the entire fire and we have contingency plans in place to protect the Woodland and Mink habitat. We'll move quickly to adjust our firefighting forces if necessary. So timber company interests are more important than wildlife interest? I didn't say that but what I did say is that we concentrate our efforts in areas of greatest threat. When the fire was threatening the Maple Creek area we concentrated our efforts there. Now that the fires moved three miles from that area we're concentrating our firefighting efforts at that location. I've been told that the fire started when a controlled burn got out of control. Now based on what's happened and the unpredictability of forecasting wind gusts it certainly is possible for the fire to race back down to Maple Creek and get the Mink, right? Of course that's a hypothetical question. Managing wildfire requires all the professionalism experience and skills we have in the Forestry Division. We're proud of our track record of controlling fires in this region. The dedication of the men and women out on the fire line is unsurpassed. With every fire comes the challenges of protecting life, property and natural resources. We face these challenges every time we fight a wildfire and we're not satisfied until we can say we did our very best job to overcome them. And now, news of the River City and the Emerald Valley. EY Evening Report with Jack Hart. Good evening. Here's what's happening. There's encouraging news from the scene of that stubborn forest fire burning in the Winchester area. With an exclusive report here's New Center Six's Joseph Rodriguez. Joe. Jack, what we've learned today is that fire officials have been successful in keeping a raging forest fire from destroying the habitat of one of America's most endangered species, the fire began when freak winds hit a forestry division burn of some old logging slash. Despite the forestry crews aggressive efforts the fire spread and headed for the Maple Creek Basin which has never been logged and is home to the Woodland Mink an animal whose habitat is especially vulnerable to fire. Let me assure you that this fire is being managed very carefully and we're doing our best to protect the Woodland Mink. Are the Woodland Mink in danger? At this point the fire is not threatening the area where the Woodland Mink live. We've been putting the fire out so the crews were not letting their guard down. Right now we have the responsibility of protecting a valuable stand of commercial timber but you can be assured that we'll continue to monitor the entire fire and we have contingency plans in place to protect the Woodland Mink habitat. So Jack, as you can see the forestry division is fighting the battle on two fronts. Right now the emphasis is on protecting timber but many people would say the real success story is saving the habitat of the Woodland Mink. So joining us live in the studio is Roland Johnson who is director of the forestry division. Director, you've heard Joseph Rodriguez's report on your successful firefighting efforts but why did your people start a fire? When just this week your department sent out this news release stating that we may be facing one of the worst fire seasons in history because of the drought. Jack, the forestry division has a responsibility to manage our forest in the most effective manner possible. Part of the responsibility includes doing some controlled burning under specific conditions. We do this in order to reduce the amount of brush and old dead trees that would really feed a wildfire if it broke out. We only burn when the weather forecast and wind conditions are favorable. Unfortunately in this case winds that were not forecast spread the fire but it's under control now because we had a backup plan that expected weather conditions. Is the forestry division more concerned with protecting wildlife habitats or commercial timber interests? Every time we fight a fire we face the challenge of protecting people, homes, wildlife, forest resources and the environment. At any given time we're most concerned with protecting whatever is facing the greatest threat. When this fire we were very aware of the woodland mink habitat and we took actions to protect that area when the fire was threatening the Maple Creek region. And now that the fire has moved northeast we're focusing our efforts on protecting the timber. Effective fire management calls for us to constantly adjust our resources and personnel to meet the challenges we face. And overall we're very proud of our record of success controlling wildfire in this region. Do you have enough equipment and people to do the job these days? Every manager would always like more resources. But Jack, I must tell you that our region is fortunate to have the most professional and effective group of firefighters that I've ever had the pleasure to work with. Well thank you Director Johnson and good luck with the rest of the fire season. Thank you Jack. On our late news, we'll hear again from Joseph Rodriguez who's in Winchester until that fire is out. He'll be profiling some of the people who've been fighting this blaze against wildfire under the roughest conditions.