FIRE!!!

You probably didn't even have to be paying attention to the news to hear about the big fire downtown. Everyone could see the smoke. It was a monster. When it broke out, both Andrew and I had no idea. We were already downtown working 5 & 6pm live shots from AISD, just a few blocks away. It must have been the only place in town where smoke wasn't visible. It took a few minutes for someone to call us and let us know how big of a deal it was. Suddenly it's 5:40 and we are having to move both live trucks, re-establish a signal, run cables, and get live at the top of the 6. It sounds easy, but trust me, it's not. It's very stressful. Andrew had the "chase" truck and was able to break away quicker than me. I was in ENG 9. When I got to the scene, my generator wouldn't start. I didn't know where Andrew was, but the first familiar face I saw was KRBC's Tim Johnston. That made me the KRBC photographer. I was at the corner of 4th and Plum. Victor Sotelo and Andrew had found each other a block down the street (5th and Plum) on the other side of the fire, making them the KTAB team. (keep in mind Andrew and I work for both stations and the reporters only appear on one or the other). At that point there was no real plan; it just came together that way. It's now 5:50 and I have no electricity to raise the mast or transmit a signal. Tim is running back and forth between Andrew and me. I'm getting MANY phone calls from various people in the newsroom asking for my status. They requested I find an outlet to plug the truck into. At that point, I heard someone say in the background that it was going to be a 30 minute spectacular. Oh boy. It's almost 5:55 and I still have no working truck. There was NO electrical socket anywhere in sight, nor was there an open business nearby. I looked down the street (toward 3rd and Plum) and saw an open garage door at an electrician's shop. I pulled up and asked them for an outlet. We ran an extension cord inside. Then, like a madman, I raised the mast, powered the transmitter up and RAN down the street with an audio and video cable. I plugged into the camera just in time to get a confirmation on a usable signal, and then it was time to hit the air.

They came straight to us. Tim didn't know much. The fire department didn't have time to give us any information yet (nor was there any to give). He simply described what he was seeing. Every now and then he stepped out of the shot to see what was in my viewfinder. He did a great job ad-libbing. Every few minutes he tossed it back to the anchors and they would ad-lib over my live picture. Mark, the producer, was on the phone with me the whole time making the decision of what to do next. I never had time to give Tim an IFB (earpiece), so he did the whole show without being able to hear what the anchors were saying. At some point during the half hour, the roof and walls of the warehouse started collapsing. I'm sure you, the viewer, after watching, realize that makes for some pretty incredible live television. Actually being there is even more incredible. I've said it before and will say it over and over again-the camera never does it justice ("it" being anything I shoot, not just fires)

So what next? All the reporters raced to find different angles to the story. They did a good job of it. By about 7pm they had all gone back to the station to write and edit their stories. Andrew and I, meanwhile, decided to stay on scene because we had great positions to shoot from. When something this big happens, after a certain period of time, police and fire block off the area and don't allow close access. We were there early enough to be right across the street and didn't want to lose our positions. There was also the possibility of the situation getting worse, so it was a good idea for us to be there to capture it on video if it happened. This is the perfect example of how this business is a lot of hurry up and wait. Andrew and I had been working under extreme stress and chaos, and now we had 3 hours - from 7pm to our 10pm live shots- to do nothing but hold out positions for those upcoming shots. Then it was back to normal for us until the next big one......