I was invited out on this past week to photograph a local volunteer fire department’s training exercise - definitely a first for me! The home being used for training belonged to the grandmother-in-law of one of the firemen. She had been very active in giving to the local volunteer department and requested that her daughter and granddaughter do the same after she passed. Well, I’d say they were giving alright. They were letting the firemen do training burns in her condemd home. I was asked to photograph all of this so that the family would have something of the grandmother’s to hold on to (I believe the home was built in the 30’s?) It was a fascinating night - albeit very HOT!! At one point, the fire chief pulled me closer to the house and told me to watch the devils dance - it was beautiful to see. The next thing I knew, he had me INSIDE that house! My heart was racing - I’m not sure my pulse has ever been that high before. I was worried that my camera would melt into my hands. That’s the first picture that you see… The Dancing Devils are on the left and the shot of the fireman was from inside the burning home. I only had a split second to shoot due to the intense heat. I had no more gotten in and squatted before they pulled me back out. My eyes and lungs hurt the rest of the night!!

I think this was my favorite shot of the entire evening. The Chief had just stepped out of the house and was walking across the lawn. The smoke was so thick that it created a perfect silhouette against the flood lights.

I knew that photography would be tricky that night but I wasn’t prepared for how much my camera would struggle to focus. I finally had to operate in manual focus - which isn’t so bad, until you know that I had to take my contact lenses out. It was like the blind leading the blind!

This little guy was there with his dad. It gave me warm-fuzzies to watch them interact. You could tell how much he loves his Daddy and how proud he is that his dad is a FIREMAN! Once the training was completed, he was able to use the hose! It was quiet a site!! Check out his concentration!!