Bernalillo District Forester Todd Haines speaking at the Century Rio 24 and XD, AlbuquerqueSANTA FE, NM – The New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Department (EMNRD), Forestry Division (NMSF), in collaboration with the New Mexico Film Office and Sony Pictures, hosted a free screening of Only the Brave to more than 200 New Mexico firefighters, Forestry staff and their families on October 16, 2017. The film was shown in cooperation with The Screen at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design in Santa Fe and Century Rio 24 and XD in Albuquerque.

Only the Brave, starring Josh Brolin, Miles Teller and Jeff Bridges, was filmed in New Mexico and is based on the true story of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. Many firefighters with the New Mexico Forestry Division and its interagency partners worked with the same crew just weeks before their lives were taken in 2013.

"The Granite Mountain Hotshots were instrumental in stopping a spot fire from a burnout operation on the Thompson Ridge Fire near Los Alamos in early June of that year," said New Mexico State Forester Donald Griego. "When we needed them, they were there. We will never forget what they did for New Mexico."

Tragically on June 30, 2013, nineteen of the men from the elite wildland firefighting crew were overtaken by flames and killed while trying to protect the community of Yarnell, Arizona. Only the Brave attempts to document the lives of those firefighters and the events leading up to and during what is now one of the deadliest wildfires for firefighters in U.S. history. The loss struck the heart of the wildland firefighting community across the country and around the world.

"The brave women and men of our great state put their lives on the line every time they fight a wildfire. Bringing this film to our firefighters before it hits theaters is the least we can do to say thank you," said Griego.

Only the Brave was filmed entirely on location in the Santa Fe and Los Alamos areas employing 40 New Mexico actors, 190 local crew members and 1,300 background actors from across the state.