Central Mat-Su Firefighter Portraits

coldclimb

I've been trying to bring my camera on more fire department stuff, so this week when training night rolled around I threw it on the truck with me. We just got two brand new engines, and all we did this night was run our drivers through them and get them familiarized with the new stuff, so I grabbed the camera and wandered around shooting. Spraying water into snowbanks isn't very exciting though, so I focused on portraits of the firefighters in the lights from the trucks. Everything is blurry, but still worthwhile.

Here's a shot of a couple of the driver's control options on the new trucks




We just filled five empty battalion chief positions this week. Here's one of our new chiefs sporting his new white hat.




The "Snozzle" doesn't see much action except during training and the occasional big fire, but it's a pretty cool tool.




Bowzr - yes that's his name. Not legally, but so close that payroll has it in their system in addition to his real name. :rofl




Mike is a lieutenant with us and a captain on the Air Force base in Anchorage.




Another Mike, a former firefighter and dog catcher in Bethel, Alaska. Alaskan Bush towns are hands down the furthest thing from civilization that America can present, and a lot of us are proud of it.




Flashing blue lights shine through the spray as firefighters play with the bumper turret on the new truck.




Nate




Firefighters and their reflections in the ice.




Ooooh... shiny brand new rims, and lug nuts! You can see me in the nut.




Shot under the new truck as the group gathered round to go over the new features.




Doug is a firefighter here and on the north slope, as are many of our members.




I suppose that's enough firefighter portraits for everyone. Hopefully sometime soon I'll manage to actually catch some flames, with or without prior approval from higher up. One things the fire service lacks is good photos of the job, which is a tragedy because we see some of the most incredible things. I think sometime soon I'm going to present a portfolio to the chief and see if he'll let me shoot more regularly whenever we've got enough people to handle the fires. I might be able to show you all some cool stuff in the future.

Scott_Quier

These are some very interesting photos. I really enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing.

I got a minor chuckle when I saw the thread title. The first thing that went through my mind was, "And how many people are there on DGrin that are actually going to know what and where Mat-Su is?" I would guess only those that have lived in the area for a time (I did 6 years on Elmendorf AFB). By my could that would be pretty much you, HeatherFeather, and me.

coldclimb

Scott_Quier wrote:

These are some very interesting photos. I really enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing.

I got a minor chuckle when I saw the thread title. The first thing that went through my mind was, "And how many people are there on DGrin that are actually going to know what and where Mat-Su is?" I would guess only those that have lived in the area for a time (I did 6 years on Elmendorf AFB). By my could that would be pretty much you, HeatherFeather, and me.

Thanks Scott! Hehe... I can't just use "Wasilla" anymore, cause then the only response is "Do you know Sarah Palin?"

heatherfeather

Scott_Quier wrote:

These are some very interesting photos. I really enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing.

I got a minor chuckle when I saw the thread title. The first thing that went through my mind was, "And how many people are there on DGrin that are actually going to know what and where Mat-Su is?" I would guess only those that have lived in the area for a time (I did 6 years on Elmendorf AFB). By my could that would be pretty much you, HeatherFeather, and me.

Ha Ha!
And JAG and Elaine... But you should have put the whole name to make it even more pin pointed... Matanuska Susitna... We always get a kick out of teaching that one to tiny kids and watch them attempt to wrap their little tongues around that one!

BTW, these are great photos! I just love the ones of the boots. And the portraits of these guys are very nicely done. Also the lights in the water spray is pretty sweet too. And as a side note, I did a wedding last winter where the grooms last name was Bowser. We had all kinds of jokes about designing their invites with a Mario theme.

Scott_Quier

coldclimb wrote:

Thanks Scott! Hehe... I can't just use "Wasilla" anymore, cause then the only response is "Do you know Sarah Palin?"

Well, do you?

Hackbone

Like #1 but #5 grabs me. He seems filled with despair when seeing something going up in flame. I think this one is saleable to some stock house. The multiple feet is great and would look great up in the firehouse.

VayCayMom

Thanks for sharing that! I really loved the feet under the truck, the reflections on the ice made me think about what a tough job this must be in Alaska.

bfjr

A lifetime ago when I had a chance I should of moved

"North to Alaska"

Cool Stuff, no pun intended

coldclimb

VayCayMom wrote:

Thanks for sharing that! I really loved the feet under the truck, the reflections on the ice made me think about what a tough job this must be in Alaska.

Yeah the cold does present some problems. When we drive the trucks around we have to keep the water in the tanks flowing so the pump and pipes don't freeze up, and when we drain hoses after putting fires out, there's often times when we can't drain them faster than they freeze. All the guys with mustaches grow icicles on their faces during fires too.

Scott: no I don't know her, but we've done ice rescue training with the water rescue team on the ice right in front of her house, and of course everybody sees her around every now and then.

My pastor just got back from a missionary trip to Uganda where he visited a village a few hours down a dirt path. The villagers were living in mud huts with grass thatched roofs and wearing the only clothes they had. He told one of the men there where he was from, and the immediate response was "Oh, do you know Sarah Palin?"

*sigh*


Thanks for the comments all!

JAG

coldclimb wrote:

Thanks Scott! Hehe... I can't just use "Wasilla" anymore, cause then the only response is "Do you know Sarah Palin?"

Yes...funny you should say this. I went in November on a cruise to the Caribbean and when people found out where we were from they would ALWAYS ask...so what do you think about Sara Palin?? At times there were people who would call across the dining room "Hey there goes the Palin people!". It actually got annoying at times. We had one waiter from indonesia who would give us daily updates on where Sara was at that day. Even if we were not at his table! Not that we ever asked. Kinda hard to leave it behind and relax when its the talk of the whole ship! And yes...I have met her several times but not know her well enough to stop in at her house and say hi.

Nice series of pics! That would be an awsome opportunity to snap pics of the firefighters in action!