While eating lunch in Springdale I got a call from Rogers News Editor Leeanna Walker telling me of a fire in Lowell. The house was reportedly engulfed. After calling two other photographer I found I was the closest.

I saw a lot of smoke off 71B but after missing one streets, trying a short cut that was a dead-end, I got there just in time to seeing little smoke or fire left but what looked like form the outside a house without part of a roof. I could tell at a closer look that the house was gutted the only real room that looked to have survived damage we would find out later was the garage. For news photographers covering any spot news is hard when it comes to the fact that every situation presents in challenges. When I got there I knew I was late and getting any strong fire photos means getting there quickly to get the fireman working.

Because I had never worked around the Lowell police or fire departments I felt I needed to be careful and watch their reactions to my presences. Over all things went well and they were very professional allowed me to work around them. Also because I could see it was a big fire and I was so late I needed to work hard to get some sort photos that would tell the story.

After shooting the fireman cleaning up hot spots on the roof and inside the house reporter, Bob Caudle, point out the owner’s of the house standing close by talking to neighbors.  I was after a time able to shoot a few frames of them visiting without being intrusive. It is the hardest part of covering spot news, those moments we photograph victims. We cover the news because it has effected peoples life and we have to do it without our presents making them feel even more victimized.

The Rogers Fire Department performed a training burn on Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011, on an abandoned house on West Poplar Street in Rogers. I had full access to the burn and really enjoyed the opportunity to capture some dramatic fire images. Here are my favorites from the burn.

On Friday I had the opportunity to cover a controlled burn at Hobbs State Park and Conservation Area east of Rogers. The burn involved 26 personnel from Hobbs, the State Forestry Commission, The Nature Conservancy and firefighters from Piney Point, Rocky Branch and Beaver Lake Fire Departments. This is the kind of assignment a photojournalist lives for. Getting unlimited access to a large, multi agency operation is a rarity anymore these days. Had this been a real forest fire there is no way a media representative would have been allowed inside the burn area without a handler, this is something I’ve experienced first hand having covered several large wild fires in New Mexico and Colorado at my first newspaper job. I pretty much enterprised in and around the burn area to get the shots I need to tell the story. I knew only three of my photos would make it into the newspaper, but I figured I could get plenty of extras for the blog. By the time I left, four hours later, I was tired, hungry and smelled like I had spent the night in front of a camp fire. I love this job!

It has been a long time since I shot a house fire. I dont really enjoy shooting these but they always make for good photos. Here are a few from the fire Wednesday afternoon at 10050 Fairview Lane near Greenland. The West Fork Fire Department responded about 4:30 p.m. to find heavy smoke and flames. The house was completely destroyed by the fire. No injuries were reported, and the family managed to get their dogs and birds out of the house.

Today the Rogers Fire Department trained for water rescues at Lake Atalanta in Rogers. It was raining but that did not slow these guys down. Here are some photos as they trained in the use of a rapid deployment craft to “rescue” two “victims” out in the lake. I found it kinda funny that the guys on shore were soaked from the rain but the ones who were in the water for several minutes were fairly dry when they got back on shore because they had on dry-suits.
Enjoy!