ABC docudrama to feature Monte Rio fire chief Steve Baxman and PD photographer Kent Porter

Ask Kent Porter and Steve Baxman why they’re flying to frosty Minnesota this week and they might say they don’t exactly know.

Kent is, of course, the intrepid PD photographer whose up-close photos and reflections from last year’s Valley fire gripped people across the country and beyond. You also know or know of Steve, the virtually lifelong Monte Rio fire chief who seems not to sleep and who responded early on to the deadly and calamitous wildfire in and around Middletown.

What they know is that they were invited separately to travel to the Minneapolis production studios of the ABC weekly docudrama, “In an Instant.”

Familiar with the show? It appears to recount life-or-death situations and to blend survivor and eyewitness interviews with video of the event and re-enactments.

Among the past episodes: “Grizzly Bear Attack,” “Left for Dead,” “Buried Alive,” “The Shootout,” “Tragedy in Tornado Alley” and “Murder in the Maternity Ward.”

ABC says each episode “focuses on a harrowing tale of survival and brings it to life through dramatizations of first-person accounts not just of the life-defining events, but of those early moments afterward.”

This is new territory for our photographer and fire chief. They haven’t been provided a list of questions or details of what to expect when the cameras and lights come on.

Steve Baxman said the fellow he’s talked to has asked him not only about the Valley fire “but all kinds of fires.”

“I just feel honored for the honor of doing it,” he said.

Two things are certain. It will be cold back there. The projected high for Minneapolis on Monday is 16 degrees and the low, 3 below.

We know also that these two guys are ready, always, for pretty much anything.

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WHAT A LIFE: Got any plans for Friday, the 16th?

At 6:30 that evening, the Summerfield Cinemas will screen a double feature: Frank Capra’s 1946 “It’s a Wonderful Life” and the nicely done historical documentary, “Santa Rosa: Chosen Spot of all the Earth...”

Tickets are five bucks and can be purchased online at summerfieldcinemas.com.

The movie night is hosted by the Historical Society of Santa Rosa, whose members had the documentary made and are having fun creating opportunities for folks to see it. A big crowd showed up last month at downtown’s Roxy Theatre when “Chosen Spot of all the Earth...” shared a double bill with the Alfred Hitchcock film that co-starred Santa Rosa, “Shadow of a Doubt.”

The Santa Rosa documentary, DVDs of which will be available for sale, will show first. Before “It’s a Wonderful Life” comes on there will be some fun, a trivia quiz about what might be the greatest Christmas movie of all time.

Historical Society members, a most creative and playful bunch, envision these special movie nights becoming a Santa Rosa holiday tradition.

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WAKER UPPER: Austin, the 5-year-old grandson of Santa Rosa’s Rosemarie White, was hospitalized the other day for a diagnostic procedure that required general anesthesia.

When he came to, a nurse asked the lad if he’d care for some fruit juice, perhaps a few crackers.

Austin replied, “Do you have Starbucks?”

Chris Smith is at 707-521-5211 and chris.smith@pressdemocrat.com.