My World: Final Fire

A couple of weeks ago I went out and shot a Three Alarm fire here in Las Vegas at 4 a.m.. If any of you have gone out and shot photos of a fire scene or civil unrest you know just how hard it is to get a good shot. I know that when I shot the photos of the Tournament Players Club Maintenance Facility fire I only got four very good photos, and I shot over four hundred photos that day.

I shot almost five hundred photos at this fire in the space of an hour and a half. And most did not turn out as I had hoped. Towards the end I watched and photographed the Crew of North Las Vegas Fire Engine 53 changing out their bottles and packing up their gear. I shot a few of them but camera shake and lighting and movement played against me. The same thing happened as they walked to their rig and were getting ready to leave the fire.

Yesterday I was reading the news on line when I read that one of those firefighters had died and his death was a LODD (Line of Duty Death) because he had been at that fire. I went back and looked through my photos of the fire and even though you can not see the mans face this is the best one of the group of shots that I took of him and his crew. The firefighter was only 43 yo and was the Captain of Engine 53.

Even though this is not a great shot in my opinion it is one that I want to share here because of all of the photos I took that morning this is a snap shot in the final few hours of this guy doing what he loved to do. And believe it or not it speaks volumes to me as a person.

Paul Harvey once said

"Fireman, nobody knows why they are fireman not even they can tell why."

Here is the photo.

I cannot believe the amount of photographs you shot and yet you only have one that you've posted?

Anyway, it goes without saying that it is a unique photograph that depicts someone alive and on the call of duty but who had later lost their life as a result. It's a shame we cannot see his face in this shot.

Paul Abbott said:

I cannot believe the amount of photographs you shot and yet you only have one that you've posted?

Anyway, it goes without saying that it is a unique photograph that depicts someone alive and on the call of duty but who had later lost their life as a result. It's a shame we cannot see his face in this shot.

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Hey Paul, of the amount of Photos that I shot of this fire I published and posted in several forum about 11 photos total. I have found that if I shoot 5 to 6 hundred wildlife and bird photos that only four our five photos are good enough to publish. And out of 2 to 3 hundred that I publish are good enough to even receive a comment on. During the day it is hard to get a decent photo that the Las Vegas Review Journal or the Las Vegas Sun will pick up. I also belong to a forum call Firepix.net. The site is one that FireBuffs and firefighters and Professional Fire Ground Photographers post their work.



The above photo was taken at the Tournaments Players Club Maintenance Facility fire last year. This was one of five that I submitted to the Las Vegas Review Journal. I was one that was picked up by them. It is also one that has won me numerous awards.



This is another one that I shot at the TPC Fire. It was also picked up by the Las Vegas Review Journal.

The biggest issue that I have with shooting night time fires and fire ground photography is that due to me work schedule and on call rotation I do not get many chances to shoot fires at night. That said I am very picky on what I shoot and post. I too wish I could see his face. In reading the information about him and looking at photos of the man I actually meet him as he was filling in for another Fire Captain at a different station and he welcomed me into the station as if I a welcome visitor. I am going to post the rest of the photos from the fire after this post.

Here are the other photos from this fire.

This is Las Vegas Fire Truck 43 with the bucket on the roof.



This one is of Firefighters getting new air bottles after being in the burning building. This is the first step of Rehab for firefighters here in Las Vegas.



This is Las Vegas Fire and Rescue CBRNE 3. (Chemical – Biological – Radiological – Nuclear – Explosive). They are the HazMat of the Department and respond to all working structure fires, unknown hazmat issues, etc..



This photo is of Las Vegas Fire And Rescue Truck 43 and of members of the department working at the fire.

This one is of a fire captain in the bucket of Truck 43 on the roof. This photo is a little over exposed but of the half a dozen photos I shot of this guy the best of the bunch.



This is of the brothers at Rehab. Not a good action photo but a good showing the brothers (I can say brothers because I was a firefighter for many years) getting water, taking a breather and in a lot of cases getting the stress of fighting a fire under control.



This is simply a equipment photo at the fire with the Las Vegas Fire PIO and a reporter talking.



Coming out of the battle.



The rigs and truck.

I don't post a lot of my stuff here because I feel that no matter what I shoot that is accepted by the newspapers and other media outlets it is not good enough for here. Even Asher did not this that the original photo was good enough to even comment about.

Hi, Dave,

Dave Butcher said:

I don't post a lot of my stuff here because I feel that no matter what I shoot that is accepted by the newspapers and other media outlets it is not good enough for here. Even Asher did not this that the original photo was good enough to even comment about.

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There is no crying in baseball. And no whining here.

Maybe when you posted that original photo Asher was taking a nap, or recovering from a heart attack, or putting up a multi-ton sculpture, or grocery shopping, or something.

Those are all great shots. They help give us insight into the very difficult and dangerous work done on all our behalves by firefighters. Thanks so much for the pix and for your very interesting descriptions.

Best regards,

Doug

Dave Butcher said:

I don't post a lot of my stuff here because I feel that no matter what I shoot that is accepted by the newspapers and other media outlets it is not good enough for here. Even Asher did not this that the original photo was good enough to even comment about.

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Dave,

I support and follow your work with enthusiasm and considerable affection. I value and respect your devotion to the brave firemen.

Asher

Hey Dave, I really like your daytime shot of that group of firefighters, that is one strong image. Although, I do wonder about the unusual crop of it. I wouldn't worry about any unwanted extraneous details, they're the 'warts an' all' and should be kept in the image, if that was the reason for it.
I always think that a documentary image should never be 'polished'.

How did you shoot the night time shots? What were your settings?

The fire fighters do a terrific job. I love the red colouring in the images. Well done!