The Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Conference gathers April 28-29 at Colorado Mountain College. This event is an effort of the Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Council to promote public awareness and understanding of wildfire risk to foster community-driven action to reduce risk and the impacts of wildfire in Routt County. The conference opens with this community screening of Elemental a brand-new documentary that takes important look at discovering how we can all reimagine our relationship with wildfire — now more timely and urgent than ever. 

Filmed across the West and narrated by Golden Globe and Emmy nominated actor David Oyelowo, ELEMENTAL: Reimagine Wildfire takes viewers on a journey with the top experts in the nation to better understand fire. The film follows the harrowing escape from Paradise, California as the town ignited from wind-driven embers and burned within a few hours of the fire's start. It then continues to the even more recent fires of the last two years, when Oregon, California and Colorado suffered their worst wildfires in recorded history. Elemental includes the voices of climate experts, Indigenous people and fire survivors, and asks us to reimagine our relationship with wildfire as we prepare for an increasingly hotter future.

Former United States Forest Service Chief Michael Dombeck says, "Elemental is an outstanding film that deserves the widest possible viewing. In a visually stunning manner, it distills what we’ve learned about wildland fire over the decades and provides a road-map for badly needed changes that will benefit thousands of people, particularly in fire prone communities.”

This free program is presented by Bud Werner Library & Routt County Wildfire Mitigation Council.