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Letting the light back in: Upper Ojai after the Thomas Fire

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Letting the light back in: Upper Ojai after the Thomas Fire

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Content LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
Producer, Writer, Editor: Sam Ribakoff
Thesis

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Letting the Light Back In: Upper Ojai After the Thomas Fire
By
Sam Ribakoff

A Thesis Presented to the
FACULTY OF USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
MASTER OF ARTS
(SPECALIZED JOURNALISM)
August 2018

Copyright 2018 Sam Ribakoff

LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
Producer, Writer, Editor: Sam Ribakoff
Thesis

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Acknowledgments:
I first want to thank all four of my committee members for both their continual support
and guidance during the pre-production, production, and editing phases of this project, and for all
of their good humored spirits that constantly remined me that although making a documentary is
a serious task that requires hard work, serious commitment to your subjects, and the mental
fortitude to pick yourself back up from inevitable mistakes and failures, there’s also joy in the
process and in the duty of telling someone’s, or a whole community’s, story.
I’d also like to thank Professor Michael Parks for first bringing me into this program, and
for helping convince me to stay in it when I thought I shouldn’t. Professor Parks is the epitome
of good humor, compassion, and inquisitiveness, elements that are not only essential in being a
good journalist, but more importantly, a good human being.
Thank you, Professor Dan Birman, for always supporting me and championing my work
and ideas, even if I didn’t always support or champion my own work or ideas. Throughout the
nine months of the program I learned a lot from Professor Birman, not only about the technical
process of documentary journalism, but about the values essential to becoming a documentary
journalist; a hard work ethic, a commitment to your subjects and their stories, an empathetic ear,
and an inquisitive eye.
Thank you, Professor Megan Chao, for always being so open, kind, and dedicated to your
students.
Thank you, Professor Joe Saltzman, for being so engaged, interested, and supportive of
this project, and for always having insightful and meaningful advice.
LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
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Thank you, Professor Amanda Pope, for welcoming me into the documentary program in
the cinema department, and for always being so generous with your time and attention, and for
being so supportive of this project, and myself as a documentary filmmaker.
Lastly, thank you to all my friends and colleagues in Annenberg, students and staff, for
always being so thoughtful, open, kind, forgiving, and available. Even under as much pressure as
this program was, I think we were able to form a loose support network of friends that I’ll always
cherish.

LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
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Table of Contents:

1. Abstract………………………………………………………………………....... Page 5
2. Background………………………………………………………………………. Page 6
3. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………. Page 11
4. Documentary Script …………………………..…………………......................... Page 12
5. Bibliography ……………………………………………………………………. Page 25

LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
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Abstract:
Letting the Light Back In: Upper Ojai After the Thomas Fire tells the story of the Thomas
Fire, and the recovery efforts after the fire in Upper Ojai, a rural, unincorporated area of Ventura
County. Through the stories of four different people whose lives were affected by the Thomas
Fire, three Upper Ojai residents, and one Ventura County firefighter, we experience how people
survived, coped with, and came together because of the fire. Those four people are; Trevor Quirk
a lawyer who lives with his family in the Upper Ojai valley, Kiki Le Fleur, a local artist, Mother
Paraskeva, a nun at Santa Barbara Monastery in Upper Ojai, and Captain Steve Swindle, a public
information officer, and firefighter, for the Ventura County Fire Department. Through
interweaving each character’s stories, we see, and hear, Captain Swindle’s experience as a first
responder to the fire, and how Paraskeva’s monastery was unharmed, but how the monastery’s
lavender field, their main source of income, was incinerated. We also hear how Quirk’s home
was spared but how Le Fleur’s home, tragically, was not.
The second part of the documentary explores not only how each character materially and
emotionally coped with the effects of the fire, but how the generally isolated people of Upper
Ojai came together to form a real community. In the wake of the fire Quirk started the Upper
Ojai Relief Station, a non-profit welfare and charitable organization set up to provide material
relief for Thomas Fire victims, which ultimately become a place for community gathering, and
grieving, for the residents of Upper Ojai.

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Background:
When I first came into the program I was dead set on making a documentary on the
history of the environmental justice movement. The documentary was, of course, going to be
“big” and “important,” and unfortunately it took until the end of the fall semester to realize how
preposterous that idea was. First, it was a topic, not a story, and that topic was far too broad to
tackle in a matter of months. I spent a good number of days after that realization convinced that I
had failed, that I was too far behind, that I would never be able to finish the program on time. I
was doomed. Then, the real world intruded. On December 4, 2017 the Thomas Fire erupted in a
small, rural, unincorporated community in Ventura County called Upper Ojai.
1
The fire quickly
spread at a reported rate of 70 miles per hour,
2
threatening thousands of homes in the areas of
Upper Ojai, the city of Ojai, Santa Paula, Ventura, and the small bedroom community of Oak
View
3
where my cousin and her family live.
By the time the fire was fully contained on January 12, 2018 – nearly a month and eight
days after it started – the fire had burned 281,893 acres in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties,
destroying over 1,063 homes.
4
The fire was also responsible for the death of two people,
5
and for
directly setting the stage for the mudslides that killed 21 people in Montecito in January of

1
Joe Fox, “The Thomas Fire: 40 Days of Devastation,” Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA), January 23, 2018.
http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-thomas-fire-40-days-of-devastation-3d/
2
Captain Steve Swindle of the Ventura County Fire Department interview by Sam Ribakoff, March 16, 2018
3
Fox, “The Thomas Fire,” Los Angeles Times
4
“Thomas Fire Incident Information,” Cal Fire, March 28, 2018,
http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/incidentdetails/Index/1922
5
Shelby Grad and Michael Livingston, “Thomas Fire, California’s Largest on Record, Finally 100% Contained,” Los
Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA), January 12, 2018. http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-thomas-fire-
contained-20180112-story.html
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2018.
6
Thankfully, my cousins’ house was not one of those homes destroyed. Other than a burnt
pile of grass at the edge of their property, and some smoke damage, their home was fine.
During winter break I went to Oak View to visit my cousin and her family. Once I got
there my cousin requested that I volunteer with her at a parking lot outside a liquor store about
15 miles away in Upper Ojai where she said people had set up a relief center to dispense donated
goods to victims of the fire. That brief 15-minute drive into the Upper Ojai valley, with few
houses, and virtually no businesses or public spaces in the area, was like being transported to
some remote part of Montana, or maybe more accurately, Montana after the apocalypse. Weeks
after the fire had mostly been extinguished, spot fires in the backroads in the rough parts of the
mountains still burned, leaving an ominous gray haze and the smell of burning wood and oil in
the area. When we pulled into the liquor store, one of the only businesses in the whole valley
besides a hamburger restaurant next door, the parking lot was filled with huge storage boxes
filled with clothing, food, furniture, home appliances, and children’s toys. The parking lot was
equally full of people, either donating more goods, chatting with neighbors, or helping to
organize the mass of goods. As my cousin helped volunteer to sort through clothes, I walked
around and just talked with the locals. What I started to hear from people was a story of a small
community populated by both long-time ranchers, and more newly arrived millionaires and
billionaires from around California, who lived fairly isolated from each other, and were now
starting to come together to form a community as a result of the destruction and trauma of the
Thomas Fire.

6
Fox, “The Thomas Fire,” Los Angeles Times
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After thinking about it for a couple of days, I decided to try to produce a thesis
documentary on Upper Ojai centering on the stories of people in the area who lived through the
fire, and their efforts to not only rebuild the area, but to form a community out of the collection
of isolated individuals that the area was in many ways before the fire. I knew through talking to
folks in Upper Ojai, that while they were grateful for the media coverage of the fire, many
people were tired of talking to journalists who only seemed to want to see their destroyed homes
and focus on their suffering. Over the course of a week or two I drove back up to the relief
station numerous times. Although I identified myself as a journalist hoping to make a
documentary about the fire and its effect on the community, I initially kept my camera in the
trunk of my car, in an effort to try to form a meaningful relationship with people there, assuring
them that I wanted to tell their story in their voices not just produce a story gawking at
destruction and human misery. I now realize that I probably shouldn’t have been so skittish with
the camera, and that I should have begun documenting the cleanup and recovery efforts right
away in order to present a more thorough picture of the Upper Ojai area after the Thomas Fire.
At the time though, it seemed like the right thing to do out of respect.
Although I did slowly, and carefully, cultivate relationships with my sources, still, the
process of actually making the documentary wasn’t easy. Synchronizing with the schedules of
my subjects was difficult considering their circumstances of them trying to rebuild their homes
and lives after the fire. Getting Ventura County employees and representatives on camera was
particularly difficult as well. Negotiating filming sequences in sensitive locations including a
monastery, in the Ventura County Fire Department office, and at the ruins of a character’s house
after it was destroyed by the fire, was also a pretty significant obstacle. Because of these, and
other dilemmas, I wasn’t able to film some sequences that I would have liked to have included in
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the documentary. For example, I wanted to include a sequence showing local artist Kiki Le
Fleur’s sculptures made from collected pieces of fused glass from the ruins of her home in Upper
Ojai, but we had some difficulties with the owners of the property where she was staying who
would not allow me to film at her studio, which was their property. I also wanted to include an
interview with Supervisor Steve Bennett, the elected Representative in Ventura County for
Upper Ojai, but unfortunately, he was unavailable until after the documentary was completed.
The theme of the documentary is something that I struggled with as well. Even after fully
committing myself to telling the story of the recovery effort in Upper Ojai after the Thomas Fire,
I struggled with convincing myself that it was an important story to tell in the first place. With
countless important things happening around the world, across the country, and in the city of Los
Angeles, the story of an increasingly wealthy rural area in California dealing with the aftermath
of a wildfire seemed frankly, relatively minor compared to everything else going on in the world.
Over the course of producing the documentary though, interviewing and talking to people whose
lives were forever altered by the fire, I refamiliarized myself with one of the purposes of
journalism, especially documentary video journalism, to document and hear people’s stories,
especially those who feel like their stories aren’t being heard or recognized. In the wake of such
a historic, and horribly destructive event like the Thomas Fire, the experiences of the residents of
Upper Ojai during that fire, and their efforts to organize and rebuilt after the fire by themselves is
a powerful and important story, and a universally enlightening story about how we cope with
trauma, feelings of helplessness, and the power and importance of community and collective
action.
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A recently published survey by the Pew Research Center found that 68% of Americans
feel “worn out” and “overwhelmed” by the news each day,
7
a known dilemma in the news media
industry referred to as “news fatigue.” The survey unfortunately doesn’t go deeper into the
reasons behind people’s news fatigue, but the New Yorker’s Talia Lavin hits the nail on the head
when she describes her symptoms of her own news fatigue as “You start to believe that the gang
in charge is a maniac and a bunch of corrupt kooks, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
8

While Lavin is referring to reading about national political issues, I think the same kind of news
fatigue can set in around any major news event, including disasters like the Thomas Fire. One of
Lavin’s solutions to news fatigue is just as universally true for dealing with national politics as it
is news of natural disasters. “All over America, there are those who have cut through the miasma
of fatigue and let their ire and grief propel them to their feet,” Lavin writes, “All over this
country, there are conversations happening that have been built by people’s desire to connect
with one another, and to make change.”
9
The residents of Upper Ojai did just that. Instead of
wallowing in despair, many residents of the area organized to help each other and make a
substantial, positive change, and created a community where there hadn’t been one before. I
think this documentary does a decent job of documenting that and showing that transformation,
and as cliché as it sounds, showing the power of collective community action. That’s why I am
very proud of this documentary.

7
Jeffrey Gottfried and Michael Barthel, “Almost Seven-in-ten Americans Have News Fatigue, More Among
Republicans,” Pew Research Center, last updated June 5, 2018, http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-
tank/2018/06/05/almost-seven-in-ten-americans-have-news-fatigue-more-among-republicans/
8
Talia Lavin, “The Cure for Trump Malaise? Get Up and Talk to Someone,” The Village Voice (New York City, New
York), June 8, 2018. https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/06/08/the-cure-for-trump-malaise-get-up-and-talk-to-
someone/
9
IBID
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Conclusion:
When doing research for this project there were only a couple of articles published about
the Upper Ojai Relief Station that I could look too. One of the more prominent ones was written
by Nicole Santa Cruz of the Los Angeles Times.
10
In the article Santa Cruz writes eloquently
about spending some time at the Relief Station, talking to folks there and witnessing an amazing
moment of synchronicity. It’s a good piece, but I think it skims the surface of a deeper story that
could have been told. In documentary and video journalism video journalists can gain depth and
insight into a story by documenting events, people, and stories in video and audio by letting our
subjects tell their own stories to viewers, letting viewers see and hear what they are experiencing,
and ultimately getting into universal, human, stories. For example, the section of my
documentary showing Kiki Le Fleur giving a tour of her destroyed home and talking about the
art she’s making from the ruins of that home as a way to cope with the trauma is a strong
example of the power of documentary journalism. I think that section not only deepens viewers
understanding of the effects of the Thomas Fire, but ultimately delves into more universal human
issues as well.
With the technology to make documentaries and video pieces getting more affordable,
and the amount of people needed to make a documentary getting smaller, video documentary
journalists can be an essential part of any news media staff and not just as a gimmick to drive
viewers from social media, but as an essential element in a news organizations ability to
document and explain the world to its audience as accurately, and as fully, as possible.

10
Nicole Santa Cruz, “Neighbors Help Each Other Piece Their Lives Back Together After the Thomas Fire.” Los
Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) December 29, 2017. http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-upper-ojai-
relief-20171229-story.html
LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
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Documentary Script:
Letting the Light Back In: Upper Ojai after the Thomas Fire
Producer/Writer/Editor: Sam Ribakoff
August 9, 2018
https://vimeo.com/278207570
NATS:
Wide shot of a placid rural road at the magic
hour in Upper Ojai, California with a sign in
the far left of the screen that says, “Private
Lane”

VO: TREVOR QUIRK
Lawyer, Community Activist
Same scene as above
People come up here and they’re very private
VO: Quirk
Close up on “Private Lane” sign from
previous scene
And they come up here to get away from
folks
VO: Quirk
Wide shot of Topatopa Mountains
surrounding Upper Ojai
And enjoy their peace.
VO: Quirk
Wide shot of sculpture art by a local artist
You have artists… famous artists up here.
VO: Quirk
Close up of goats and some chickens on a
farm in Upper Ojai
Ranchers. Cowboys. Then you get the
opposite side of the spectrum, there’s…
VO: Quirk
Rack focus of a very nice house in Upper Ojai
Billionaires. Literally.
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VO: Quirk
Close up of a large chicken on a farm in
Upper Ojai
[A] Unique community for sure.
NATS:
We transition out of the previous scene with a
violent whip pan away from the chicken. We
hear Ventura County Firefighter radio chatter
on the night of December 4
th
2017, the day
the Thomas Fire started.
11

Investigator 13 responding to reports of a
brush fire. 1681 Dickinson drive
[indecipherable chatter] ...
NATS:
Further radio chatter from Ventura County
Firefighters
Aerial Google topographic map of the
Topatopa Mountains and Upper Ojai
dissolves into aerial news footage of the
Thomas Fire.
12

Station one we have a good visual on the fire.
This appears to be above Stucco Park moving
down canyon. The fire is in [indecipherable]
canyon heading south towards Stucco Park
moving down. The fire is in [indecipherable]
canyon, heading south towards the residents
in that area.
VO: KIKI LE FLEUR
Local Artist, Writer
VO over same aerial footage of the fire
We didn’t see any flames or anything. My
landlords had been watching TV and saw the
news which made it sound like it was very far
away. And then I went on Facebook and I saw
that um, a lot of people had evacuated. All of
a sudden people were in caps saying on
Facebook saying get out get out get out
VO: Le Fleur
Wide shot of Kiki walking through the
wreckage and rubble where her home once
stood
And so that was like my first sense that it
was really an emergency

11
Havokkkx, “Thomas Fire 2017 – Ventura County Fire Radio – First 18hrs,” Youtube Video, 11:05:48, December
18, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qB74yZCfR8
12
KEYT-KCOY-KKFX News, “LIVE: Thomas Fire burning in Santa Paula-KEYT Broadcast,” Youtube Video, 1:54:52,
Streamed live on December 4, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJW3k5X66Is
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NATS:
We spend a couple seconds on just looking at
the rubble of what once was Le Fleur’s house

VO: Le Fleur
Same Close up of the remnants and rubble of
Kiki’s home as above
The two most important things in my life are
my computer and my dog so I like just was
already ready in my car, but not like with
anything like… I had no ide… you just don’t
like think like, ‘oh, it’s all going to be gone
the next morning. You just don’t think that.
Even though…
SOT: Le Fleur
Le Fleur standing above the ruins of her home
it’s in some way already happening.
NATS:
Establishing shot of Ventura County Fire
Department Administration Center

VO: CAPTAIN STEVE SWINDLE
Public Information Officer and Fire Captain
with the Ventura County Fire Department
Shot of pan of map of Ojai Valley that ends at
marker for station 20 in Upper Ojai. Close up
of Swindle’s name badge on his uniform. Pan
over to his badge
Ahh December 4
th
, 2017. I was working an
overtime shift at our summit station number
20 in Upper Ojai. We were first on scene at
the fire. Captain Sulles asked for four strike
teams, each strike team is five engines, a
second alarm on a brush is ten
SOT:
Swindle
So all told he ordered 30 engines right out of
the shoot and we have 32 fire stations. So he
pretty much called for our entire fire
department right at that point
NATS:
Quirk, in a burn scared tree, cutting down a
dead branch with a power saw.

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VO:
Quirk
Continue tree cutting sequence from above.
Cut to Wide shot pan and reveal of Quirk’s
house
My immediate thought was I’m not going to
panic. I didn’t want my wife and my kids to
know that there was something wrong. So I
told my wife, I said, let’s get the kids dinner,
and quickly… I didn’t want to leave my
home… and I wanted to stay behind and,
protect it.
SOT:
Quirk
So I set them in the car, and they went down
the mountain
NATS:
Sequence of Nuns of Saint Barbara Orthodox
Monastery entering their church. Wide shot of
the nuns praying, chanting, and singing
during a church service.

VO: MOTHER PARASKEVA
Nun at Saint Barbara Monastery in Upper
Ojai
We see a Close up of Mother Paraskeva
reading and chanting during the same church
service scene as above.
Oh yes, December 4
th
, when the fire started.
That was our feast day of Saint Barbara. We
actually had 80 or 90 people that morning on
December 4
th,
Celebrating the holy liturgy in
our chapel. And we pulled together as a
community and evacuated within about two
hours of the fire starting. The two most
important things that we took…
SOT:
Paraskeva
Were, the two sets of things were, our cats
and our holy relics that are in the chapel.
SOT:
Paraskeva
Wide shot of Paraskeva walking through the
church, showing and explaining the various
gold colored Orthodox Christian icons. Close
up of Saint Barbara icon.
These are the icons that you see here on what
we call our icon screen. These are the icons
that were saved during the fire. We hurriedly
took these icons out of the iconostas, the
screen, so they were quickly removable. We
wrapped them up in towels and saved these
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very precious icons. Here is one of Saint
Barbara. Saint Barbara is our patron saint here
at the monastery. Saint Barbara is the patron
saint for firefighters. So this icon definitely
went with us.
VO:
Swindle
VO over long pan over close up of Saint
Barbara icon
You have to realize, anybody has to realize,
nobody anticipates the largest wild land fire in
the history of California to occur. Compared
to what happened up in Northern California
VO:
Swindle
News coverage of the devastation of the
Tubbs Fire in Santa Rosa California in
October of 2017 that killed multiple people.
13

and some of the deaths that occurred because
people weren’t able to get notified and get
out. Though we experienced a great amount
of loss of property and land
SOT:
Swindle
We didn’t experience the loss of life that was
seen up in Northern California, and we thank
our lucky stars for that. It could have been
disastrous.
SOT:
Le Fleur
Le Fleur walking through the rubble of what
used to be her house.
This was a historic schoolhouse. Originally.
It’s very long. Ummm, the uhh, the
schoolhouse was turned into a theatre for a
while, and then there was the Amastoys, well,
then there was some change over, then the
Amastoys’ bought it, and they spent a lot of
time landscaping, he did all the rocks. Umm,
bbviously the sculpture. It was a very long
structure as you can see from all the uh stone

13
TODAY, “Deadliest Wildfires in California’s History; At Least 31 Have Died | TODAY,” Youtube Video, 3:42,
October 13, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JYZ4_XGM2w&t=50s
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walls. And um the studio I lived in was
attached and over there, you can kind of see
my bedframe. And umm the whole house
looked out with enormous like two story plate
windows looking out over the mountains and
the fields and uh, it was an exquisite place
you know. He designed the whole interior as
well, redesigned it.
VO:
Le Fleur
Close up of the remains of Le Fleur’s house.
And I think there’s a level of denial where it
just doesn’t seem conceivable, you know, that
it’s going to happen. Like really, really,
happen. You know for me writing and
creating have been the way to, creating art has
been a way for me to make sense of things,
so, for someone else it may be different, but,
umm, I’ve gone through like five pairs of
boots just
VO:
Le Fleur
Tracking shot of Le Fleur walking through the
remnants and rubble of her house, trying to
find pieces of glass in the rubble to make art
with
stomping around, and gloves and masks.
Pottery shards survived. Some of the art that
I’ve been making that I’ve been scavenging,
and stuff has involved very large pieces of
glass that have fused and have been
transformed by the fire
SOT:
Le Fleur
Same scene with Le Fleur as above
Close up of the piece of glass that Le Fleur is
going to use for collage art
Here’s one. I’m going to take this. You know
a lot of the stuff the rubble just covered up, so
you just take a shovel, and umm, start finding
the pieces of glass that survived, and they’ve
got a lot of crud baked on them that you
kinda… get rid of, but then the task then is
going to be combining them with pieces of
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metal. Even now you can see that there’s, you
know, there’s a lot of beauty just in this…
You can even see the different colors
VO:
Le Fleur
Same close up of the piece of glass as the
previous scene.
Transition to wide shot of Le Fleur walking
back into the rubble of her house and looking
for pieces of glass again. She walks back
towards the camera with a basket full of
colorful glass.
Close up of one of those pieces of glass as Le
Fleur holds it towards the sun’s light.
Fire has just transformed so much of what
used to be really functional. It’s like human
artifacts that have then gone through these
elements of fire and wind and… I just think
it’s really fascinating that you know glass was
made from earth and fire and so the glass
especially has just taken on shapes and fused
and become, umm, whole new, and it has a
different spirt to it entirely, and the spirit of
each piece of glass has blossomed into
something new because of the elements
coming together
SOT:
Le Fleur
Le Fleur standing in the garden besides the
plot of land where her house once was
And I just think it’s beautiful in that sense to
take that that transformative, you know, those
elements that have transformed it, and let the
light come back into them
SOT:
Le Fleur
Close up of Le Fleur holding up the same
piece of fused glass from the remnants of her
home as before.
I must have about 300 pounds at this point. I
just keep collecting it. Someone’s lending me
their studio and I’m just going to start making
stuff to… to make something of something
else. I’m keeping this stuff right here.
VO:
Paraskeva
Close up tilt of the charred remnants of Kiki’s
home
Probably there’s a little, a little, thought in our
minds that made us every once in a while
worry, but for the most part, you know. We
figured
SOT:
Paraskeva
but for the most part, you know. We figured,
LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
Producer, Writer, Editor: Sam Ribakoff
Thesis

19

Close up of Paraskeva in the monastery’s
chapel
philosophically that even if the chapel were to
burn down, or the house, we would just pick
right back up and rebuild. But yes, there
probably was a niggly thought. That perhaps,
umm we wouldn’t be so fortunate. Umm.
Yeah
VO:
Paraskeva
Wide shot of Paraskeva walking through the
monastery’s burnt lavender fields. Transition
to close up of the burnt field.
Here we’re standing on what used to be our
lavender field with about six or seven
hundreds plants of lavender. And this was our
main source of income here at the monastery.
And it got taken by the fire.
SOT:
Paraskeva
Close up of Paraskeva in what as a lavender
field
When we came back all that was left were
burnt stumps
VO:
Paraskeva
Wide shot of the burnt lavender field.
Transition to pan from church to house at the
monastery
The fire burned all around the monastery, all
around our five acres, took out our lavender
fields, but it didn’t touch any of our
structures… Well, we’re hoping to replant.
SOT:
Paraskeva
Medium shot of Paraskeva in the lavender
field
Probably in two or three weeks we’ll be
planting those baby lavender plants, and
perhaps in about another year or two we can
have another harvest that we can then again to
generate some income on.
NATS:
We lead out of the last scene with just the
sound of a huge tractor engine humming. We
come up on the visual of a close up of the
charred shards of the lavender plants. As the

LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
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sound of the engines gets closer, we see the
huge tires of a tractor crush the dead plants
VO:
Quirk
Close up of same scene as described above
These nuns. Really interesting women, need
help with their lavender field that got burnt
up. They don’t know how to operate a tractor,
and I do, and I got a tractor, so I’m going to
go help them.
VO:
Paraskeva
Medium shot of Quirk piling dead lavender
plants into a pile
What happened after the fire I think was
fantastic, in how Trevor started this
phenomenon where he collected all kinds of
things that everyone needed
SOT:
Paraskeva

What was amazing was that sense of… of, of
kindness. Of compassion. Of co-suffering
with our fellow neighbors, you know? We
didn’t have much to offer except for our
prayers, but other people donated items, they
donated money. Trevor donated, you know,
gobs of his time and labor. And what we saw
was such kindness coming out of the
community.
NATS:
Quirk and two Upper Ojai Relief Station
volunteers sit behind a folding table. Writing
checks for Thomas Fire victims

VO:
Quirk
Same footage as before. Transition to close up
of Quirk and the other two volunteers writing
those checks. Close up of the names of the
The relief effort was born out of… it was
either the second or third night after the fire
started. My neighbor came home. And he and
I teamed up, because I had been texting him
telling him, ‘you gotta get up here.’ We were
sitting there and we go, well
LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
Producer, Writer, Editor: Sam Ribakoff
Thesis

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fire victims in need of aid that they check off
of a list as they write the checks
SOT:
Quirk
Let’s put on a pancake breakfast for the
community, for the people that are up here.
And we got on Facebook and we said,
whatever the post said, I can’t remember what
the exact words were, but something to the
effect of, pancake breakfast, eight o’clock,
right there, across the road at The Summit,
uhh, bring whatever you have.
VO:
Quirk
Wide shot of “Fire Relief” sign. Pan to reveal
the full station. Close up of “Free Relief
Supplies” sign.
And before we could even make our down
there with whatever we had, we started
getting these messages that were like “I want
to contribute. I want to donate.” And we uh
put on a breakfast right here at The Summit.
SOT:
Quirk
And the supplies kept coming in
NATS:
Quirk
Found footage from Quirk of Quirk walking
around the relief station. Stacks of donations
of food and supplies. We hear a couple
seconds of Quirk interacting with both
volunteers at the relief station, and fire
victims looking around the station for food
and supplies.
14

We’re here at the Stagecoach relief station.
This is the water mountain. Lauren, say
‘cheese.’ Peter say hi. What are you sorting
over here?

14
Trevor Quirk, Untitled Facebook Video, Video posted to Facebook, December 18, 2017,
https://www.facebook.com/trevor.quirk.7/videos/vb.741829754/10155367604959755/?type=2&video_source=us
er_video_tab
LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
Producer, Writer, Editor: Sam Ribakoff
Thesis

22

VO:
Quirk
VO over same footage as above
We didn’t plan this, just like we didn’t plan
the fire. I’m surprised not only by what
became of the relief station, but I’m surprised
by the response, that, the community’s
response. Because not only are we getting
supplies from Upper Ojai, or even Ojai. But
we’re literally getting supplies shipped to us
from around the world, literally. Africa.
Germany. U.K. All over the United States
NATS:
Quirk
Audio comes up on found footage of Quirk at
the relief station. We hear him conversing
with folks at the station. We fade out on
Quirk saying
Hope to see you here. Sending love
SOT:
Quirk
I’m an eyewitness to humanity in action. I
really am. Because there’s something magical
about that spot. The craziest things happen
over there. And I… almost like it’s too
coincidental.
NATS:
Le Fleur standing in line at the relief station,
waiting to be given a check for Thomas Fire
victims from the Upper Ojai Relief Station

VO:
Le Fleur
Le Fleur in same scene as described above
I’ve moved now like six times in the past like
two and half months, just hopping from place
to place, and I always come back to this land
and the Upper Ojai Station because those are
the places where I feel most connected still.
It’s like I go back to the things that are still
LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
Producer, Writer, Editor: Sam Ribakoff
Thesis

23

consistent. That give me a sense of grounding.
And like I’m in a known relation with what
exists.
SOT:
Same scene at the station as described above.
Le Fleur is handed her check, and she begins
to talk to someone that we can’t see for a
couple of seconds. We pan to reveal Quirk,
passing out lavender flowers to Le Fleur from
Paraskeva’s fields. They hug. Le Fleur tears
up
Le Fleur: “Hey. What. What is this? Is this
lavender”
Quirk: “It’s uhh the monastery. We were
there this morning. And one of the nuns or the
sisters gave it to us. So I thought I would pass
them out today. It’s cool huh?”
Le Fleur: “I can’t get enough hugs”
Quirk; “Don’t cry. Tears of joy right?”
VO:
Quirk
VO over slow pan of the faces of people at
the Upper Ojai relief station
And I think it’s like an emotional, in fact I
know it is, because I’ve cried, and they’ve
cried with me in the parking lot. Where,
they’re sitting there watching their home, or
what used to be their home, being taken away
by dump trucks. Literally loaded by an
excavator and put into a dump truck. And
then their lots are scrapped clean. Like dirt.
Nothing there. No green, no nothing. And so
it’s really an emotional process for these
folks, and they feel the need to, some of them,
talk to me about it and hug their neighbors
and cry with each other. Insurance isn’t
helping with that. Right? Community is, but
insurance is not. It can’t. We were filling, and
still are filling a need that no governmental
organization can fulfil. There’s no
governmental organization that can connect
people and create a community space where
LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
Producer, Writer, Editor: Sam Ribakoff
Thesis

24

people can come together and grieve and
come together as a community to help each
other as a community. No one offers that
service, and that’s what we were able to do.
NATS:
Shot of a community picture at the relief
event. As Trevor shouts for everyone in
attendance to get in frame for a picture,
pointing out people not getting in. We see the
picture being taken, then everybody walking
out of frame.

END
00;17;32;27

LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
Producer, Writer, Editor: Sam Ribakoff
Thesis

25

Bibliography:

1. Barthel, Michael and Gottfried, Jeffrey, “Almost Seven-in-Ten Americans Have News
Fatigue, More Among Republicans,” Pew Research Center, last updated June 5, 2018.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/06/05/almost-seven-in-ten-americans-have-
news-fatigue-more-among-republicans/
2. Bennett, Steve. Interviewed by Sam Ribakoff, May 14, 2018
3. Fox, Joe, “The Thomas Fire: 40 Days of Devastation,” Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles,
CA), January 23, 2018. http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-thomas-fire-40-days-of-
devastation-3d/\
4. Grad, Shelby, and, Livingston, Michael, “Thomas Fire, California’s Largest on Record,
Finally 100% Contained,” Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA), January 12, 2018.
http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-thomas-fire-contained-20180112-story.html
5. Havokkkx, “Thomas Fire 2017 – Ventura County Fire Radio – First 18hrs,” Youtube
Video, 11:05:48, December 18, 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qB74yZCfR8
6. KEYT-KCOY-KKFX News, “LIVE: Thomas Fire burning in Santa Paula-KEYT
Broadcast,” Youtube Video, 1:54:52, Streamed live on December 4, 2017,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJW3k5X66Is
7. Lavin, Talia, “The Cure for Trump Malaise? Get Up and Talk to Someone, The Village
Voice (New York City, New York), June 8, 2018.
https://www.villagevoice.com/2018/06/08/the-cure-for-trump-malaise-get-up-and-talk-to-
someone/
LETTING THE LIGHT BACK IN: UPPER OJAI AFTER THE THOMAS FIRE
Producer, Writer, Editor: Sam Ribakoff
Thesis

26

8. Quirk, Trevor, Untitled Facebook Video, Video posted to Facebook, December 18, 2017,
https://www.facebook.com/trevor.quirk.7/videos/vb.741829754/10155367604959755/?ty
pe=2&video_source=user_video_tab
9. Santa Cruz, Nicole “Neighbors Help Each Other Piece Their Lives Back Together After
the Thomas Fire.” Los Angeles Times (Los Angeles, CA) December 29, 2017.
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-upper-ojai-relief-20171229-story.html
10. Swindle, Steve, of the Ventura County Fire Department interview by Sam Ribakoff,
March 16, 2018
11. “Thomas Fire Incident Information,” Cal Fire, March 28, 2018,
http://www.fire.ca.gov/current_incidents/incidentdetails/Index/1922
12. TODAY, “Deadliest Wildfires in California’s History; At Least 31 Have Died |
TODAY,” Youtube Video, 3:42, October 13, 2017,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JYZ4_XGM2w&t=50s

Abstract (if available)

Abstract Letting the Light Back In: Upper Ojai After the Thomas Fire tells the story of the Thomas Fire, and the recovery efforts after the fire in Upper Ojai, a rural, unincorporated area of Ventura County. Through the stories of four different people whose lives were affected by the Thomas Fire, three Upper Ojai residents, and one Ventura County firefighter, we experience how people survived, coped with, and came together because of the fire. Those four people are

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Asset Metadata

Creator Ribakoff, Samuel Henry (author)

Core Title Letting the light back in: Upper Ojai after the Thomas Fire

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Specialized Journalism

Publication Date 08/09/2018

Defense Date 08/09/2018

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag California wildfires,documentary,OAI-PMH Harvest,Thomas Fire,Upper Ojai,Ventura County

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Birman, Dan (committee chair), Chao, Megan (committee member), Pope, Amanda (committee member), Saltzman, Joe (committee member)

Creator Email ribakoff@usc.edu,samribakoff@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c89-67891

Unique identifier UC11671810

Identifier etd-RibakoffSa-6715.pdf (filename),usctheses-c89-67891 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-RibakoffSa-6715.pdf

Dmrecord 67891

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Ribakoff, Samuel Henry

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA