♪♪
-We're challenging ourselves to be better every day.
-When it comes to helping recruits get ready
for the challenges of being a firefighter,
this nationally recognized program
is about as real as it gets.
We'll take you inside the Seattle
Fire Department's new recruit school.
-Music can be more than just the classical instruments.
-Breaking the rules on making music.
See what these young composers come up with
and what they use to make their next masterpieces.
-Ready to come in?
(bells jingle)
-And putting on the Seattle Festival of Trees
is no easy task.
Sometimes the tiniest details make all the difference.
These stories and more next on CityStream.
♪♪
-Hello and welcome to CityStream.
I'm Nicole Sanchez.
We're bringing you the show from the Fairmont
Olympic Hotel and the Seattle Festival of Trees.
♪♪
This year
is the 48th Seattle Festival of Trees.
It started in 1978 with volunteers
decorating trees in their garages.
About ten years later, the festival moved
into the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.
Every year, it has grown larger and more spectacular.
The fun includes a teddy bear suite,
a giant room filled with bears for visitors young
and young at heart.
All of this goes to raise money for Seattle
Children's Hospital’s Uncompensated Care Program
and their Autism Center.
We'll share more about the hardworking
volunteers who make this event possible
and the families whose lives are changed by this program
a little later in the show.
The trees are stunning.
The decorating team does an amazing job.
You might not even notice These are artificial trees.
And, of course, that's on purpose for safety.
So when the time comes to handle these real emergencies,
Seattle residents
can take comfort
knowing their firefighters are ready for anything
thanks to their intensive training program. Producers
Ian Devier and Pete Cassam recently got the chance to see
their nationally recognized program up close.
Welcome to Recruit School.
♪ [dramatic music] ♪​
-We believe that citizens of
deserve a high quality firefighter
to show up on the doorstep in their time of need.
-We're challenging ourselves to be better every day.
♪♪​ [dramatic music]​
- The career of the fire service
is one of the hardest jobs that I know.
We're expected to work hard to get the job done.
And the amount of stress that we are exposed to
and it can be high.
So it's even going to be harder out in the real world.
So that's why we
put a big emphasis on their level of attention
and their level of ability
and their proficiency in their skills.
♪ [dramatic music]​ ♪​
In the first four weeks
of recruit training is just basic skills.
- Very physical, day one.
You know, the model is kind of
crawl, walk, run.
- Get them introduced to
the skills and to the equipment.
And then now we've progressed
into combining all those things together.
[hammering and wood cracking]
This training is, is very hard.
- I got a victim! - Good.
(CAPT. JORGE BERNAL) These weeks of recruit
training are very physically demanding.
In fact, it's been nicknamed “The Grind.”
- Yeah, it's a fitting name for it.
(CAPT. JORGE BERNAL) Recruits are constantly
doing evolutions, training,
resetting and doing them again so they can gain
proficiency in their skill.
With all these drills,
they start from the very beginning to the very end.
So that means you can see that, recruit firefighters
getting out of the rig, simulating
that they just pulled up to the structure fire.
And they’re deploying the hose, making entry.
- It's a big hose, it's a lot of water.
and it's super heavy.
(recruit’s speking to each other) inaudible
(CAPT. JORGE BERNAL) Making sure that they get the hose
to the proper location
and then work that fire with their nozzle streams.
- Putting everything together.
It's the most complex drills that were being tested on.
It's all gas, no brakes.
(CAPT. JORGE BERNAL) We're practicing our V.E.S.,
which stands for
vent, enter, search drills
And the,
recruit firefighters are laddering the building.
(sound of window obsticles being smashed)
Going up, searching that room, isolating that room,
and then exiting, then finding a simulated dummy
or a victim and bringing them down.
We have, recruit firefighters,
laddering to the roof line, establishing
[metal ladder clanging]
foot protection using a roofer and then
proceeding to practice their cut sequence,
(chainsaw cutting into wood)
vertical vent, pitched roof.
-It's a, it's a pretty long drill.
It's about 12 minutes.
The most fun for me because I,
used to work with a chainsaw in wildland fire,
and we get to cut a roof open.
- And that's all happening, all at once.
So now they're getting
a little taste of having to work around
all these obstacles
with other units performing their operations.
We are constantly correcting their mistakes.
- Shut it down!
- Giving them instructional ways to improve.
-You don’t, louver here, you gotta louver like this.
-Do it again.
-Line is good, alright go.
- When they receive that feedback that wasn't
they didn't do everything correctly.
It wasn't perfect.
- I would say you have to have a growth mindset.
Just take it for what it is and do better.
-And make the necessary adjustments for the next go around.
We’re at North Bend, Washington,
at the Washington State Fire Training Academy.
Our level of expectations is increased here.
Today is way more intense
than the training facility down in Seattle, Washington.
We have three floors and we're burning
simultaneously on each floor.
They have smoke. They have heat.
Even though this is a
controlled environment, we control the burns,
we time it just perfectly.
We have safety lines, Safety Chief, everything.
We still treat it as an immediate
danger to life and health.
[metal ladder clanging]
- Safety is the number one priority
for every drill that we do and everything that we do.
Because if we get hurt, we can't do our job.
- We're doing multi company operations today.
They're constantly being evaluated.
All the while you have to be focused on doing your job.
If someone doesn't do their job
correctly there's a trickle down effect
and it might affect your operations.
And you have to be able to in a split second
to adjust to that,
because we want to make sure
that they can operate safely on their own
and whether they're able to,
keep themselves safe and their partner safe.
The reality is, is not
everybody is going to be successful.
- You have to be
a specific type of person to want to do this work,
and to be able to do this work.
But if you want it bad enough, you can do it.
♪♪​ [dramatic music]
(CAPT. JORGE BERNAL) Car fires is, something that we expect
that they will encounter at some point.
Early point of their career.
- Car fires were new to me.
We’re jumping off the rig, like, ready to go.
We're already masked up.
It's a very realistic scenario.
And there's fire right there.
(CAPT. JORGE BERNAL) This is the closest they've ever been to flames.
And we also have simulated dummies in there,
we have to do a physical grab.
So they actually have to get
up underneath it, lift it up out
through the obstacle of the car.
- The urgency is there, obviously,
and that kind of drives it home, that,
you know, you are pulling somebody out of that car.
(CAPT. JORGE BERNAL) That's part of their firefighter one,
certification through the state.
They have to demonstrate
the proper use of the extinguisher
on different types of classes of fire.
[extingusher spraying a fire]
♪♪​ [dramatic music]
Currently, we're on week 13 of the training program,
what we call recruit house fires.
The recruits have two and a half
more weeks left in the training division.
We try to give them the foundational blocks
so that when they exit recruit training
and go out to the companies, they can actually start
building their career and their experience.
(RENEE FERNANDEZ) They prepare you for the worst case scenario.
The you know how to deal with it.
It's just second nature.
♪♪​ [dramatic music]
(CAPT. JORGE BERNAL) And if they happen
to make it out of this training program,
they're going to be able to start working right beside
some of the leading people in the nation.
♪♪​ [dramatic music]
- I feel so lucky to be able
to do this job
and work with some of the most incredible people.
It's it's the best job in the world.
It's like, winning the lottery is an understatement.
♪♪
The application window for new hires just closed,
but not to worry,
Seattle Fire has switched to an annual recruitment.
So your next opportunity
to apply opens in the fall of 2026.
For more information about a career
with the department, visit Seattle.gov/fire.
♪♪
Up next, tis the season for music,
but these young composers are challenging our notions
of what music should sound like.
We'll explain when we come back.
-We are the everyday storytellers
of this great city.
We are Seattle Channel, a gateway to everything
Seattle.
The intersection between government,
culture, news and the ever
unfolding story of the city we call home.
So follow your curiosity and come explore
Seattle with us.
Seattle Channel.
♪♪
Welcome back to City Stream from the Seattle
Festival of Trees here at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel.
We are now in the teddy bear suite where they have
more than 75 bears that will get you in a festive spirit.
And, you
know, music plays a big part of
getting in the mood for the holiday season.
But there's one group
of aspiring musicians
who are redefining musical composition
and even what counts as a musical instrument.
Producer Brian Callanan takes us to
the Young Composers Workshop.
♪ [ symphony music ] ♪
[Avery Pun] Music can be more than just
the classical instruments.
(Sound FX, symphonic music)
And if you incorporate these other sounds,
it can make something new entirely.
(Sound effects)
[Narrator] If you think you know what symphonic music
is all about, it's time to change your tune.
- Welcome, everyone.
- Welcome to the Seattle Symphony's Merriman Ross family
Young Composers Workshop.
(♪♪)
The free, five month course
provides ten local teens a chance to fuze together
live instruments played by Seattle Symphony members with what are called
electroacoustic sounds like this crinkling paper.
(Crinkling paper)
That's from a piece by 16 year old Avery Pun called “Paper Petals,”
which calls to mind creating paper flowers and writing with her friends.
- Like my friends and I, we used to write a lot.
That's actually how we met is through writing this story together,
where we all would write a character for different chapters.
- Well, I'm very excited to hear “Paper Petals” by Avery Pun.
♪ [ symphony music ] ♪
- Avery's
also writing a new chapter in her own musical education,
with an incredible opportunity to have her work
after months of practice sessions played by some of the best musicians
on Earth in a world premiere concert at Benaroya Hall.
- I feel like I've learned that
music is a lot more than what I initially thought it was,
and that there's a lot of different types of music
that I haven't explored yet and that I can still get into.
- That sentiment is music to the ears of workshop director Marcin Pączkowski.
- So we'll look at the score. - His job helping these young composers
with varying levels of experience in classical music,
or composing on a computer to literally play off one another.
- I would say this is both the fun part and the challenge.
Getting everyone ready with the skills,
filling in the gaps as we go, which is different for every student.
- For Pączkowski, the workshop is tearing down some misconceptions
between students and professionals about what it means to be a musician.
(♪♪) - We are just peers.
There might be a little bit of a difference of experience,
but we are just talking music with each other.
It just gets rid of all the boundaries. - And there are no boundaries
when it comes to where students of the Young Composer Workshop can end up.
From playing here at Benaroya Hall to finding an audience worldwide.
Seattle Symphony bass player Will Langlie Miletich is a former young composer student,
(♪♪)
and the symphony has performed music
by workshop alum August Beck multiple times at major shows.
- So like, it's very cool to see how the students like
carry on in their musical lives and like also come back and like stay connected
- Community engagement, programs manager Allison Damon says,
with a diverse pool of students attending the workshop over the past three
plus decades,
the symphony is able to connect with new audiences year after year.
- The more different kinds of voices that we feature on our stage,
the more people could potentially feel impacted by the works that are performed.
We need a little bit more of that in the work that we do here.
(♪♪)
- Principal
cellist Efe Baltacigil agrees that the tradition of
symphonic music and the kind of people listening to it are changing.
- Well, I think we are on 21st century.
So what is traditional at this point?
So good luck finding that.
- And as symphonies in Seattle and worldwide face
the challenge of finding new listeners,
Baltacigil sees the workshop as part of the continuing effort
to help classical music adapt to a digital age.
- I think it's important to keep your view open and wide,
to try to accept the changes that might be necessary and be flexible.
I think for any artist that is a good, quality to have.
- Student Aiden Ramirez threw plenty of changes at the Seattle
Symphony's musicians.
(Dog barking)
So he set his pet chihuahua
and parakeet loose in his composition “Leo and Popcorn.”
- So the piece is supposed to be
about my interpretation, about them being home alone.
(♪♪)
- For a young man who's never composed
using electroacoustic sounds before, this experience
has rewritten his approach to music altogether.
- It helped me definitely get out of my shell more and just
experiment with music that I just didn't really know I liked.
(Audience applause) - It turns out audiences are liking it too.
And no matter what's ahead for these composers, this workshop
has struck a chord that's sure to resonate for years to come.
- It's a whole new experience I just didn't really know existed.
♪ [ symphony music ] ♪
-Students under 18 who are interested in
the program need to apply
for the next workshop before December 1st.
To learn more, go to SeattleSymphony.org
and click on the Education and Community tab.
We'll be right back.
No, it's not a bunch of tiny elves
who make these fabulous trees.
Up next, we'll introduce you to the volunteers who make
this magic happen.
♪♪
Welcome back to
CityStream from the Seattle Festival of Trees.
These trees are so much more than pretty decorations
and twinkling lights. Over the last 40-plus years,
the members
of the Festival of Trees
Guild have raised more
than $11 million for Seattle Children's Hospital.
In 2024 alone, they raised more than $885,000.
Last year,
I had the honor of visiting both the volunteers
who dream up these fabulous trees, as well as the families
who are forever grateful.
What are you doing?
Just checking out your teeth, huh?
-I'm trying to take it out.
-Nine year old Hailee Makuch can't wait to lose another tooth.
-That looks like it’s sewed.
Definitely.
I like this chair.
Just like so many other nine year olds,
Hailee is full of joy.
(Hailee makes cat noise)
But Hailee's journey has not been like other kids.
At three years old, she often complained of leg and neck pain.
One day things got so bad she couldn't walk or move.
-We were in the hospital for about a week and they were doing just like every test
under the sun to try to figure out what was going on with her body.
(♪♪)
-Within days, doctors determined
Hailee had a rare genetic condition with no cure.
-The disease is called Morquio A
and basically, her body doesn't make the enzyme that we all have.
-Let me talk
-that helps to
Marcoscopic... morcoscopic sarcoidosis.
-Mucopolysaccharidosis
-Sorry.
(whispers)
-So her body doesn't make the enzyme that everybody else has.
Breaks down cellular waste and gets it out of our body
so it accumulates in her bones and her organs and her soft tissue.
Hailee needs weekly life saving treatments for the rest of her life,
each one costing nearly $30,000.
When Hailee's dad brought her to the E.R., he had just lost his job.
The family is grateful for Seattle Children's Hospital’s
Uncompensated Care Fund.
-You see all the tests that are being ordered,
and you just think in your head like, god, how much is this going to cost?
And it's terrifying to have to think about that stuff
when your child is sick in the hospital.
And so there is just no way,
that we would have survived, without Uncompensated Care.
(♪♪)
-Ready to come in?
(♪♪)
-The work that happens inside this unassuming warehouse
is part of an annual fundraiser that helps patients like Hailee.
-I love Christmas.
-The volunteers here with the Seattle Festival of Trees Guild spend
countless hours designing Christmas trees to raise money for the hospital's
Uncompensated Care Fund and Seattle Children's Autism Center.
It's work they believe in.
-Well, the reason I do this is because, having been a student nurse at Seattle
Children's Hospital, it was incredible to see
the quality and of care and caring.
-Dottie Greenwood has been volunteering with the festival for more than 40 years.
-It's an addiction. (laughs)
And I have to confess, it is.
So, I have several at home and I love doing them.
And my car is is so full of glitter that you can't get rid of it.
(laughs)
It won't come out.
-She says the team works year round on the trees, which individuals
and businesses can purchase for a minimum donation of $4,200.
-This is just really gratifying for me.
I love it.
(♪♪)
Guild members pour their hearts into this work.
And it all comes to life each year at the Fairmont
Olympic Hotel from late November to early December.
The fundraiser also includes a gala event
with a live and silent auction.
-It's so heartwarming to be at the gala and read the signs on the trees
that tell you their story and how they benefited from
the funds that we are working all year to raise.
-Seeing the people at the event and and listen,
you just kind of listening to the conversation
and as you're going around and there for a good reason.
And that's the big thing is the Children's part of it.
-Each tree is
dedicated to a Children's Hospital patient.
Hailee is being honored this year, and so is a five-year-old
twin boy named Tucker.
-Within a few hours of Tucker being born, it was apparent there were other issues.
Amy McAfee's
son, Tucker, was born with a heart defect and other serious health issues.
He spent most of his first year at children's.
-We learned that he had, what's called esophageal atresia, along with, tracheal
esophageal fistula, EA/TEF, and some other things.
He has, thumb dysplasia.
He has some differences in his vertebrae.
And so it's all part of, an association
they call VACTERL that related to the heart defect.
So a series of birth defects.
So bit of a surprise.
-Tucker has had five major surgeries.
He still faces some significant health challenges,
but his family credits Children's for saving his life
and helping them all get through such a difficult process.
-They take care of the parents, too, you know?
They're there for the kids,
but they really helped us through that whole experience.
(♪♪)
-Both families say having their children featured
at the Seattle Festival of Trees brings them a lot of joy.
They're thrilled to be part of such an important event
that is helping to save even more precious lives.
-We've never been to the Festival of Trees,
always heard about it, and oh gosh, I’m looking forward to it.
-It's been an honor, to know that people
care enough, about her story, that people care enough about other kids
with medical complexities to want to give, and to want to help these families.
Be able to take care of their kids the best they can.
-What grade would you get at Seattle Children's?
-Yeah, I would give it, like A-plus.
plus plus plus plus infinity plus plus smiley face
triple plus smiley face.
♪♪
-Seattle Channel. 2025 Northwest
Regional Emmy recipient for Overall Excellence
-Ho, ho, ho, ho...
The world's largest Santa...
he was actually
originally created in Seattle in 1968
to stand outside the Westlake Mall.
It's kind of a mall promotion
for the holidays
so that the Merchant Association
actually contracted with a gentleman
by the name of Wes Stanley
who ran Stanley Plastics in Enumclaw.
Before he did Santa he
did a number of dinosaurs
and things like that.
It was
a massive scale
compared to anything
that he had ever done before,
and he actually had to build a five story
tall shed outside of his workshop
to be able
to put this Santa statue together.
He is actually a fiberglass statue.
He's got a steel frame work inside,
and then there is a wire mesh
that goes around the steel framework
and then fiberglass
is sprayed on outside of that.
I know that he's spoke
through a loudspeaker,
but I don't know if you ever waved
the arm or smoked a pipe.
I would love to hear
from somebody
who actually saw him
standing outside of Westlake Mall
to know whether he really did that or not
Because he
was a holiday
only promotional inside of Westlake Mall,
it became too much to do.
So he actually stayed in storage.
He was bought by the Anchorage
Chamber of Commerce,
where he stood outside
the federal building for a few years.
And then again
it became too much of a challenge.
So we bought him here
Santa Claus House in 1978.
The giant Santa really
is the best billboard
that anybody could ever have.
We probably have well over $100,000
into this statue
to keep him standing even 55 years later.
When you have a landmark
of that magnitude,
they really take on a life of their own
and you hear
all these urban legends about
the world's largest Santa.
The funniest one that I heard
repeatedly is
that his belly is actually
a Volkswagen Beetle.
There is not a Volkswagen
Beetle inside the world's largest Santa.
There are a couple of other places
in the world that actually will
do giant lighted Santas,
but my understanding
is that they're temporary.
Our Santa is the only year round
Santa on a scale of that magnitude.
So really
our giant Santa is the last one standing.
♪♪
Well, that wraps
up this edition of City Stream
from the Seattle Festival of Trees.
If you'd like to learn more
about all of the trees, the bears or even the gala,
go to SeattleFestivalofTrees.com
I'm Nicole Sanchez.
Thanks for watching. Happy holidays.
♪♪