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Church
Fire
by
Wayne Tomblinson
On May 12, 2003, I had been asleep about
one hour when at 23:40 the Keene Volunteer Fire Department scanner went
off for a request for mutual aid to Cleburne, Texas on a fully involved
church fire on Brazos Street in Cleburne.
As I was throwing my clothes on, I woke
up enough to know where this church was and it'slocation was only four
miles from my house. I grabbed two extra rolls of Fuji 1600 press filmthat
I keep on my counter for night fires (I keep one 1600 in my bag with camera
in the car).As i jumped into my car the scanner from Cleburne was accounting
for all fireman on the scene asthere had just been a very large back draft
of flames and the roof had just collapsed.
On the way I was loading the
1600 film and putting the flash on the camera and getting five rolls of
film in my pockets. The scanner traffic was about the fire getting so
hot it was starting to damagethe Cleburne ladder truck which had set up
on the side street next to the church. they were saying"we have to
tear down and get out of here to save the truck."
The church was located two blocks North of the main street.
Upon arriving at that intersection theCleburne Police had Brazos Street
shut down. I pulled into a parking spot right next to the corner, jumped
out of my car holding up my press pass and camera and the policeman motioned
me on.
 
From half a block away I shot two of my
first pictures, even though there was a house between thechurch and my
location. I like to get one or two shots from a distance. As I approached
the church theCleburne ladder truck was just backing across Brazos street
to get out of the heat. as I began to approachthe front of the church
from the middle of the street the heat became so intense I had to start
shootingfrom the front yard of the houses across the street and just south
of the church. the flames were leaping a good two stories above the walls
which were still standing.
There were no firemen fighting the fire on the east
side of the building (the front) as the ladder truck on the north side of
the building had just retreated across Brazos street. the other two Cleburne
engineshad set up on the side street on the west side of the church (the
back.) As the firemen were beginning to set up at the intersection on the
northeast corner, I attempted togo in front of the house directly across
the street from the front door of the church. The heat was toointense to
walk by the front of the house let alone stop and take pictures. So, I ran
around behind the corner house coming up behind the ladder truck that was
beginning to hook their hoses up from thefire hydrant again, so the fireman
were starting to drag hoses from the truck toward the church. This was where
I began to get my first shots of fireman in action.
One of the first of these shots was one of my personal
favorites. This lone fireman was dragging a hose across the intersection
towards the fire walking through water that by now was covering the sidestreet
and intersection. I was shooting silhouette shots (without the flash) about
70% of the time on thefirst fifty pictures as the flames were so bright
including the reflection from the water on the street thatno flash was needed.
By now, the Keene VFD ladder truck arrived and began
to set up on Brazos Street just south of the church (the area I had taken
my first shot from). I took a couple of shots of them as they were raising
the ladder. Then sitting on the curb caddy corner from the church I could
see the other two Cleburneengines down the side street. The brick walls
were containing the fire except for the very back partof the church where
there was a two story wood addition. The flames were shooting out twenty
fivefeet from this wood addition towards the fire engine parked in the street.
The heat was so intense thisengine had the two front windshields cracked
and all the plastic lights on the front of the engine were deformed from
the heat. This is where my 28 - 300 zoom really came in handy getting the
shot of thebillowing flames reflecting off of the two engines which were
200 feet away.
Since it was not safe to go down the side street, I
started to get photos of the fireman using a portable turret nozzle in the
middle of the street. Next, I began taking photos of the ladder truckoperation.
My 300 zoom provided me with some good close ups of the fireman in the bucket.
ThenI made my way to the rear of the truck to get some nice shots of the
extended ladder. When the flames died down the Cleburne ladder truck was
repositioned back to its originalposition and I made several nice photos
of it in action.
Now I was able to make my way down the side street for
some action shots of engine companies2 and 3 working the rear of the building.
By now the flames were not real high, but the combinationof smoke and steam
with the floodlights produced some eerie scenes, which were quite photogenic.
Engine 3 was using their turret nozzle located on top of the engine. Here
again, the combinationof smoke, steam and the flowing water from the nozzle
was nicely lit by floodlights and I got some nice photos of the fireman
working the nozzle.
By 1:20 a.m. the fire was under control and I had used
three rolls of 1600 film and a roll of 800.My only regret was not shooting
more film. With four fire stations operating at the scene, I had six prints
of all photos printed up, one for each station and two for my purposes.Wayne
Tomblinsonwww.amazingfirephotos.com
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