First things first - I just realized that my current photojournalism site looks bad on MSIE - go figure. I'll get that fixed as soon as possible. Now to the nitty-gritty...
Georgetown (CA) Fire Chief Greg Schwab is, by far, the most supportive fire chief I have encountered in my photography career. Knowing that I have a background in firefighting, he has given me complete access to all operations within the department. - including structure fires, medical calls and rescues - to say the least, a very rare opportunity.
Georgetown (CA) fire chief, Greg Schwab explains a departments water
tender (tanker) during the initial period of the project without fire runs.
As far as the actual forest firefighting, it's been a few slow days out here in Northern California. The first four days were a complete bust as far as forest fire photography - no fire runs what-so-ever. The fire crew I'm working with seems to think that I may be a "jinx". By that I mean that the weather was very hot with low humidity before my trip - high 90's to over 100 degrees with very low relative humidity - prime weather for forest fires. The day I arrived the temperature went down into the 80's and the relative humidity went up - it even rained last night!
The weekend brought travelers into the area and many of them were on motorcycles. The first official run of this trip was to an area of the district called Uncle Tom's Cabin. A cyclist wrecked her motorcycle breaking several bones. She was air-lifted to a local hospital and, at last contact, was doing well with her recovery.
The flight crew from Calstar arrive to evacuate an injured motorcyclist on
July 11, 2009. (the debris in the image was from the helicopter landing and
blowing dust)
The weekend also brought storms - rain and lightning throughout the fire district. Lightning caused my day start before 5 am local time and start a structure fire in an area of of the district called Volcanoville. The fire turned out to be small and the fire was extinguished by the homeowners shortly before the arrival of the fire crews.
5 am local time - Garden Valley firefighter Clyde Rust carries the youngest member
of the home where the fire occurred. The home turned out to be his parents house.
Little did I know that the day was just beginning. Later that morning, and at the same address as the earlier house fire, a tree was discovered that had been struck by lightning - it was on fire. Apparently, it smoldered even while the fire department was at the home earlier. This type of fire (now called a "vegetation fire") brought out the troops - Georgetown Fire and the Forest Firefighters from Eldorado National Forest - the Iron Mountain Hand Crew and the Big Hill Helitack team. These young forest firefighters made quick-work of the massive poderosa pine (more than 110 feet tall and 3+ feet in diameter) by felling it and extinguishing the fire that smoldered approximately 50 feet above their heads. In other words, they brought the fire down to them. It was an impressive site to see.
The base of the giant ponderosa pine after it was cut down and extinguished.
Any day with a camera in hand is a good day - and often, it's a VERY good day.
Georgetown (CA) Fire Chief Greg Schwab is, by far, the most supportive fire chief I have encountered in my photography career. Knowing that I have a background in firefighting, he has given me complete access to all operations within the department. - including structure fires, medical calls and rescues - to say the least, a very rare opportunity.
Georgetown (CA) fire chief, Greg Schwab explains a departments watertender (tanker) during the initial period of the project without fire runs.
The weekend brought travelers into the area and many of them were on motorcycles. The first official run of this trip was to an area of the district called Uncle Tom's Cabin. A cyclist wrecked her motorcycle breaking several bones. She was air-lifted to a local hospital and, at last contact, was doing well with her recovery.
The flight crew from Calstar arrive to evacuate an injured motorcyclist onJuly 11, 2009. (the debris in the image was from the helicopter landing and
blowing dust)
The weekend also brought storms - rain and lightning throughout the fire district. Lightning caused my day start before 5 am local time and start a structure fire in an area of of the district called Volcanoville. The fire turned out to be small and the fire was extinguished by the homeowners shortly before the arrival of the fire crews.
5 am local time - Garden Valley firefighter Clyde Rust carries the youngest memberof the home where the fire occurred. The home turned out to be his parents house.
Little did I know that the day was just beginning. Later that morning, and at the same address as the earlier house fire, a tree was discovered that had been struck by lightning - it was on fire. Apparently, it smoldered even while the fire department was at the home earlier. This type of fire (now called a "vegetation fire") brought out the troops - Georgetown Fire and the Forest Firefighters from Eldorado National Forest - the Iron Mountain Hand Crew and the Big Hill Helitack team. These young forest firefighters made quick-work of the massive poderosa pine (more than 110 feet tall and 3+ feet in diameter) by felling it and extinguishing the fire that smoldered approximately 50 feet above their heads. In other words, they brought the fire down to them. It was an impressive site to see.
The base of the giant ponderosa pine after it was cut down and extinguished.Any day with a camera in hand is a good day - and often, it's a VERY good day.
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