 "Photo: Matt Nance")
The Outdoor Channel filmed 10 episodes of its survival show, "The Best Defense," in College Station.
The series was filmed at two Texas Engineering Extension Service locations: Brayton Fire Training Fields and Disaster City. TEEX is a member of the Texas A&M University system.
The series explores several disaster situations ordinary citizens could be confronted with, including pandemic events, localized weather, economic collapse, earthquakes, fires, chemical spills and terrorism, said Emmy award-winning executive producer Tim Cremin.
"Over the past few years with Katrina, economic situations and the War on Terror there are a lot more larger issues that seem to be effecting us on an individual level," Cremin said.
Two of the figures working on the series are Cremin and Michael Bane, the co-producer and series host.
"The outdoor channel wanted a show on disasters that affect a community or even a nation and what people can do on their own to better prepare for those situations," Cremin said.
College Station provided several resources "The Best Defense" could use to create the show.
"They searched and found Disaster City. It is a world-renowned facility based within the Texas A&M University System," said TEEX emergency response director Bob McKee. "We had a large event planned where we had a number of experts from all over the United States, so we corresponded the dates and provided them with twelve experts in various fields."
"The Best Defense" used Disaster City, a training facility for first responders in emergencies, as a background. The makers incorporated the experts with the different disaster scenarios provided at the facility.
"Providing subject matter experts and our facilities as a backdrop for the show was a natural fit for our agency," said TEEX media relations coordinator Charles Glenewinkel.
The series covered a plethora of scenarios that could affect people all over the country, Cremin said.
"Somebody living in California will have to make different preparations than someone living in Oklahoma," Cremin said. "In California one would need to take earthquakes and fires into account. In Oklahoma it would be tornadoes."
The producers also filmed at the Brayton Fire Training Fields, a firefighter training facility.
"The Brayton Fire Fields are tremendous," Cremin said. "The fact that they have a facility where they have these large structures, chemical plants, ships or homes, that they can actually set on fire so these first responders can train in a realistic but safe environment is amazing to me."
Some of the experts have up to 30 years of expertise in their fields of study.
"We will not be able to teach people in a short amount of time everything they should do if they are faced with a Hurricane Katrina situation," Cremin said, "but hopefully we will ignite a little spark to get people to start looking for that information and making their own individual plans for them and their families."
The first show will air July 1, at 7 p.m. central time on the Outdoor Channel, and the remaining shows will air on Wednesday nights.
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