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I have one major complaint when it comes to covering structure (or grass, or car) fires here in Pueblo, Colo. The Pueblo Fire Department is just too damned fast! And not only are they fast, but they are so efficient that when they arrive on scene they knock down a fire and reduce it to wet ash and smoke before you can say "Hunka-hunka burnin' love!"
Recently I responded to a fire call that was about a 10 minute drive from the office. It was for a stucture fire where the home was completely involved and there were a lot of visible flames according to the fire dispatcher.
I no longer drive wildly through the streets of Pueblo chasing fire trucks like I did in my younger days. Now I listen to the scanner as I drive and try to take shortcuts and think about the easiest way to be able to drive right up to the fire. I have had many a fire photo extinguished by police who have blocked the road to keep looky-lous away and fire hoses safe.
Everyone must have been moving in slow motion at this fire as I made it through all of the intersections along the way before Pueblo's finest shut them down. I saw the pumper trucks in the road and smoke in the sky as I came around the final corner and then, there it was, Fire.
The house was still burning and not just little flames either. I pulled over and got out of my truck about 100 yards from the scene. I was loading my camera with a disk as I walked toward the flames and then I realized something. The house was still burning and there were great flames, but there wasn't a single person near the fire.
I waited and hoped and hoped and waited until finally a curious ambulance emt walked up the driveway toward the fire, pulled out his point-and-shoot camera and started taking pictures. BINGO! I started shooting him shooting the fire. Hey, you gotta go with what you find, and I wasn't finding much else at that point.
I had several frames of the back of this guy's head before he turned to look back at the road when I shot the image above. I think he was feeling a bit guilty for just standing their taking pictures of this fire. He wasn't running to save anyone, he was just a spectator.
That is supposed to be my job. I consider myself a professional spectator. I am also a story-teller, but I have to see it first before I can make a story-telling image. So I am not much different than this guy with his point and shoot. I just don't know how to start an IV or use those cool electric defibulator paddles.
About 2 minutes after I made this photo a pumper truck drove up the driveway, parked, and the crew of the truck lept into action. The fire was just wet ashes and smoke shortly after that. But this time it happened when I was ready to leave instead of when I had just showed up.
Thanks Pueblo Fire Department for lettin' that one burn a bit before you put it out. Just don't do that if my house ever burns, okay?
4 comments:
Man, that is a great post, Bryan. I wish they would skip the urgency lecture in the Fire Academy just once. Then maybe I could shoot a cool fire picture! I do know two of the new firefighters recently hired on that department, so maybe they just need some time to adjust to driving quickly. Hope all is well in Pueblo.
Josh
It is the putting water on the flames thing that ruins everything! I miss the drought!
Shooting fire apparatus at night is difficult due to the reflective striping on the engines and bunker gear. Any thoughts on how to better shoot flash photography with a simple automatic camera in these situations so that the reflective surfaces don't control the picture exposure? I'm a firefighter and carry a small (but reasonably good quality) Olympus in my bunker gear. On scene, I don't have time to set up shots or mess with a lot of equipment, it's shoot where you can and get on with the program.
Thomas
Thomas,
There really isn't much you are going to be able to do to avoid the problem with reflective materials and flash at night fires. I try to use available light when I shoot a night fire to avoid the reflections. It helps to have trucks that have directional lights to light the scene, but I doubt that you can turn the flash off on an automatic camera. I am sorry if I am not much help.
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