Structure Fire! (13 img)

coldclimb

Okay, it's not exactly your typical portraits, but it's people, so I stuck it here.

This morning at around 1:00am we had a page for a house on fire. Stumbling out of the dorm, I sacrificed a couple seconds to run back and grab my camera, catching up with the others as we got on the truck.

When we got on location it was already obvious we weren't going to save anything. A steep icy driveway gave us a bit of a struggle, but after giving it a few runs we got the engine in place, pulled a few lines, and got some water flowing. In a couple minutes we had drained our engine, and with tankers still on their way we simply waited and watched the house burn.



Jeff and Matt, standing around with an empty hose.




Mmmmm, fire.




After only a couple minutes the tankers started arriving, and we got back at it. We knocked most of the heavy fire down, and after I used up my first air bottle and more and more muscle arrived, I grabbed the camera again.



Capt. Muth and the Station 52 crew pull down a wall.




Matt Fricks engineers the engine, giving water to the guys at the other end of the hose.




I guess when you've fought enough fires to be a chief, you don't have to wear your mask ALL the time. :rofl




Jeff removes a furnace from the smoking wreckage, giving us easier access to move in more.




I like this picture because of the intensity, and a little bit of humor.




When you step back and see the big picture it's a little more comical. :rofl




This one's gotta be my favorite.




I stitched a pano from one corner of the building, showing a bit of the action on this side at least.




Danny digs through the wreckage to get underneath the floor and hit some hidden heat.




Mop up is the longest and hardest stage of firefighting, rooting around in smoldering muck trying to cool things off enough to stop the burning.




Shooting a structure fire has been a dream of mine for a long time now, and I finally managed to make it happen. Hopefully the chief likes these enough to not say no next time. :rofl

That's all for now! Enjoy these while I go home and hit the sack!

b8264d

Considering that this may be someones home, I am not trying to be insensitive but these are some very beautiful images. I found it a little unsettleing that you knew the fire fighters by name and added that to your images, kind of made the story more than just another set of images from a fire.

I hope no one was hurt and that the family, if it's a home, is able to recover. Any idea on how it started?

Thanks for sharing.

Jeff

coldclimb

Yeah the fact that it's always someone's home is a bit sobering. All of us love our job, and when the pagers go off we're excited to run out and fight fire, but always in the back of our mind we do realize that our excitement and fun is the worst day of somebody else's life. Often though, we turn situations from complete disaster to merely a little dent on the insurance by stopping the fire before it gets everything, and those saves certainly give you a good feeling!

No one was hurt in this fire, the owners were all out long before we got there.

heatherfeather

Wow, those are some dramatic photos. I like your favorite the best too.
It looks like the fire melted a ton of the snow.
I didn't get what was funny about the one photo. Care to explain?

cmason

heatherfeather wrote:

Wow, those are some dramatic photos. I like your favorite the best too.
It looks like the fire melted a ton of the snow.
I didn't get what was funny about the one photo. Care to explain?

was a bit puzzled myself Heather. But look at the next photo, that is where the humor comes it...it looks like from the first photo that the firefighter is dangling at end of a ladder high on the house....

Richard

Awesome series, coldclimb. clap

coldclimb

heatherfeather wrote:

Wow, those are some dramatic photos. I like your favorite the best too.
It looks like the fire melted a ton of the snow.
I didn't get what was funny about the one photo. Care to explain?

Hehe, for me when I see that shot it looks intense, like Jess is at the top of a ladder working hard high off the ground, but in the next photo you see she's only three feet up. It makes me laugh.

Thanks for the compliments guys! Glad you like the shots!