Woodlawn Multi-Alarm Apartment Fire

The problem with being married to a photojournalist, and being one yourself, is you never know…

Multi-alarm Woodlawn apartment fire ©Malinda & Glenn Hartong, Hartong Digital Media llc

The best news photographers take the Boyscout Motto of Always Be Prepared to heart – like a divine directive. And the best news photographers are never really ever “off”, even when they’re “supposed” to be on “vacation” (like Glenn at this particular moment).

• always have a long telephoto and a wide lens available on camera bodies
• always have batteries charged & handy, and spares if possible (especially in winter)
• always have media cards with room (spares too)
• always reset your camera to “default” when you put it back in the vehicle, which for us means ISO 400, A or P mode (depending on if we’re talking Malinda or Glenn had the camera last), 0 exposure compensation, large jpeg file*, auto white balance*, center point focus**, AF-S**, high speed continuous motor drive*. We always have time to reset buttons putting the cameras away, so we know what they’re set on when we pull them out – like at today’s fire.
  *never changes. ** almost never changes
• always have bottled water & snacks (for the firefighters as well as us if at all possible)
• always have safety vests (2! one for each of us), as well as other safety stuff like flash lights, fire extinguisher, boots of some kind (sensible & protective shoes ladies!), rain gear (heavy duty!), and for me – sunscreen, bug bite medicine, bug spray, bandaids as I’m always at the park)

So when we saw a command SUV careening through Springdale closely followed by West Chester’s engine, of course I had to follow it, after I blocked the intersection and waited for them to pass – waving wildly at the idiot who ran the light with them coming through! About a block later we saw the large column of dark smoke, knowing immediately it was more than just 1 house on fire (2o years of practice after all). While I changed shoes and gathered the 4 waters that were handy, Glenn headed for the fire with a Nikon D7000 with a 300 zoom and a D600 with a 24-85.

We’ve uploaded a gallery of 80 images from the fire with very basic toning in Lightroom (most untouched), shot by both of us. To see the settings, view the info or exif data. And remember to thank your local firefighters – and GET OUT OF THE WAY so they can save someone’s dog as well as their home!

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