2014 Atlantic Journalism Awards Finalists
Attachments
| Slug/Label | EMPIRE FIRE SCREAM |
|---|---|
| Date Aired or Published | July 2, 2014 |
| Media outlet where first aired or published: | The Telegram |
| Name of Program: | |
| If co-produced, list partner: | |
| Location: | St. John's, NL |
| List awards, grants: | |
| Running time (TV/Radio): | |
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Short explanation of the story and how it developed: In getting this photo on Monday night, June 30, 2014, it was just pure luck and by being in the right place at the right time for me. Being the July 1 Canada Day holiday the next day – or Memorial Day here in Newfoundland and Labrador (in recognition of the Newfoundland Regiment's July 1, 1916 battle of World War 1 at Beaumont Hamel, France) - there was no paper the next day and I was waiting in the newsroom watching the television news waiting to go to a 7 p.m. photo assignment in the city's east-end. There was a previous call on the newsroom scanner of a brush fire down in the area of Old Pennywell Road and it was only a minor woods fire according to the fire folks upon their arrival on the scene from the Kenmount Fire Station. So, after a few minutes I decided to go to my assignment and "check it out anyway" - the woods fire. But as I was approaching the crest of the Crosstown Arterial road towards Empire Avenue, I could see smoke billowing up into the sky from another direction in the vicinity of the Swiler's Rugby Complex. Thinking it was their large BBQ that they often have going at rugby matches, I knew it wasn't that as the smoke was getting darker and thicker. And as I turned onto Empire Avenue and just passing Tucker's Superette - " holy sweet Jesus " - the fire was just rolling out from the back of the house. I immediately put my Telegram rig in park right in the middle of the street and grabbed my camera form the back seat and started banging off frames and then I don't know where she came from, but the woman seen in the photo came running up from the driveway without anything even on her feet screaming out from the top of her lungs for "help" . . . . . "where's the firemen." After I got off I'd say about 20 or 30 frames of this scene, I then called 911 on my phone at the 911 dispatcher said they'd gotten several calls on this and they were on their way. I moved my rig onto the parking lot of the little strip mall by Tucker's knowing I would impede the firefighting efforts, even though motorists still kept going up and down the street as crews were arriving. I didn't even had time to do a proper light metering check on my camera as everything just happened so fast and was the first time I ever came upon something like that I was then witnessing. Upon the arrival of the fire fighter crews shortly thereafter, I then got photos of them hauling attack line hoses off the pumper trucks and the four-inch main water feeder hose lines to the hydrants and donning their BA's as they went about fighting the fire as it was roaring in front of them going in attacking the fire. Then it was the usual other fire photos of the paramedics at work checking on the lady and others who helped her from the house and a guy who went into the front of the home to rescue her cat and getting a little cut-up himself from the ordeal. So, as I previously said, to get this very dramatic spot news photo from this definitely unanticipated spot news event, it definitely was a matter of just plain and simple, being in the right spot at the right time and only for I was in the news room and heard the initial woods fire call on the news room scanner, I never would have gotten this photo. Last March of 2014, I had dropped by own portable scanner in a puddle of water and "fried it," and was waiting for a new one to arrive to work and if I was out and about on the city streets, never would have heard of the fire as there was no one in the newsroom to inform me as the next day was the July 1 national holiday. And as well, being the only staffer on that night, there was no reporter and I have to along with photos and video, make note of the goings on around and record the scrum with the fire scene command person, SJRFD Shift-Supt. Derek Chafe and then when I got back to work later that night, also righ tup a story for the web. But I still had to call a "Tely Webbie" co-workers at home to put the photo on the Tely website and with a little assistance from them, we were able to get this and other photos on the website and the next day, some video I shot as well, uploaded to our Tely website on Canada Day. I guess sometimes, you just got to be lucky, and I was just that, that Monday evening over the supper hour when this ordeal took place as stated above in my chronology of events in gathering this photo. Thank-you, Joe Gibbons, photojournalist, The Telegram, St. John's, NL. |
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Resources of the newsroom (money and time) available to complete the story: |
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