"Fire Country" follows the Cal Fire Department as they battle the raging wildfires that threaten California. The CBS action drama series centers around inmate Bode Donovan (Max Thieriot), who fights the infernos in exchange for a reduced prison sentence.
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This prisoner firefighter program actually exists. But the real-life Cal Fire Department has taken umbrage with the series' portrayal of their organization, calling it inaccurate. Series co-creator Tony Phelan defended the show from these criticisms in a recent interview with Variety.
"There's a distinction between the organization and from individual firefighters. My interaction with individual firefighters has always been very positive," he said. "They think that the show portrays firefighters and these first responders as heroes, which is how we see them, leading very complicated lives. When we were doing 'Grey's Anatomy,' certainly we had a contingent of surgeons who felt like, 'You're cutting corners in storytelling. That's not exactly how it happens.' But I think that you chalk that up to dramatic license."
Joe Tyler, the director of Cal Fire, has been vocal about his disapproval of the show. Shortly after the release of the Season 1 trailer, he distanced himself from the series in an email written to the department.
"This television series is a misrepresentation of the professional all-hazards fire department and resource protection agency that Cal Fire is," he wrote.
Tim Edwards, the president of Cal Fire's union, responded with an email of his own. "I want to emphasize that we were not involved in the creation or production of the show, and we do not endorse the series," he wrote. "We have spoken with our legal team, and we cannot prevent the series from airing or using the Cal Fire name."
Thieriot expressed his disappointment with how the real Cal Fire viewed the show. He thinks they rushed too quickly to judgment.
"I think I was more surprised by how quickly they [weighed in] without having seen anything," he told the Los Angeles Times, "and how the opinion came very fast off of a trailer that's cut together to bring in an audience."
Which inaccuracies, specifically, does Tyler disapprove of?
"If an inmate had a phone in a camp," he told the Los Angeles Times, referencing a plotline in the pilot, "without a doubt that inmate would be returned to general prison population. If an inmate left the camp, that inmate would never be back at the camp again. So what do they do? They have this guy going off base helping people and they're just like, 'Oh, no big deal. Don't do it again.'"
