The Township 5: Video

Olmsted Township Fire Department from dlayphoto on Vimeo.

I couldn't just sit around and watch this happen. I couldn't watch 5 guys get laid off because the powers that be were sacrificing safety for financial solvency. I couldn't watch 5 guys go through what I went through nearly a year ago and get fired, laid off, or whatever buzzword is happening to denote that you are no longer working where you work. It was a travesty in my eyes to just sit back and watch it happen, especially because some of these guys were some of the first firefighters I ever shot, while on-scene for a live fire training. I had to do something.

So when I called and asked to come out and get some photos, Olmsted Township Fire welcomed David Lay and I with open arms. Our mission was to show what would happen when 5 guys were no longer there to keep the fires out and get the sick to the hospital. I was shooting the stills, David was shooting the video. We wanted to show you the faces of the men leaving, because they are not just a number on a community's spread sheet, they are a person, with a family, and with a major mission to serve the community regardless of the politics involved with their employment.

Take a look at the video, share it, because this is a problem in not only the small community of Olmsted Township, but all over the United States. Awareness is what will save us. 

The Township 5

Drew Bacik, one of five firefighters losing their jobs effective April 1st.

Emergencies don't care about manpower at the fire station before they tear into your lives like a size 21 scalpel. Emergencies don't care that your Board of Trustees in your small township just cut 5 firefighters from your fire department in addition to the 2 vacancies that exist before they burn your house down at 2 in the morning while Miss Smith across down is in full cardiac arrest. Emergencies don't pick a good time to happen; they just do and when you find yourself as the main character in the horror movie of life, you expect someone to come help you when you pick up the phone and call 911. 

In Olmsted Township there's a very dangerous situation happening. The fire department is facing cuts as the Board of Trustees try and balance the books. If you ask the fire department you'll hear that the Board of Trustees are being unreasonable and are raging war on public safety. If you listen to the Board of Trustees you'll hear that this is just a cut to balance their budget and the fire department has forced them to do this because they will not make certain concessions. 

I'm not here to argue one side or the other, but just give you the facts. The only part of the Township that is facing cuts to balance the budget is the fire department and police department. Thankfully the police department and the board of trustees have been able to work something out to stave off their cuts to the end of the year, but the fire department hasn't been so lucky. 

The fire department has lost a chief and letters have gone out to 5 firefighters that they will also lose their jobs. But what does this mean? This means that for 10 sqaure miles, there could only be 3 guys on average at the station to help nearly 13,000 residents without a leader filling the white hat. As far as call volume, at an annual rate of 2200 calls a year, that is an average of 6 calls a day. So there is a very real possibility that the 3 guys covering the station will have to choose which call is most important to respond to; and who knows how fast another fire station from another community could respond, and if they are even available.  

This is a very potentially dangerous situation for not only the residents, but also the fire department. Hopefully 11th hour negotiations will be fruitful and are able to save these 5 firefighter's jobs, because if they don't, staffing levels will drop to a very dangerous level.  We all know emergencies don't care about staffing levels before they ruin your day.

Update 3/28/2013 8:30am: Olmsted Township Board of Trustees, last night, announced that they are rescinding the resolution for layoffs in the fire department. Trustee member Scott Ross read the statement before a large crowd of community members and area firefighters. The statement said, "Negotiations with the Firefighters Local 2845 have made progress and they are on the verge of an agreement."

Let's hope that this is the start of a healing process for the community of Olmsted Township and a pathway to bring Olmsted Township Fire Department to full staffing very very soon. 

Start Up

I was up all night. My wife would say I was sleeping, but I was awake. I had ideas running through my head. Ideas for video shorts. Ideas for photo shoots. Ideas for so many things. I couldn't quiet those voices. Just as they about shut up for the night was when my wife snuggled into my section of the bed and pushed me out.

I guess crap rolls downhill. I got up and saw that the three year old was pushing her into me and me into the abyss. I gave up and got up. 

I guess this was the perfect metaphor for what I have done. I had a idea, a big idea, but it needed money. So my wife helped me take that idea, scale into smaller bite size chucks to achieve a larger goal; proving my theory that behind every good man is an even better woman. All of it so that I can provide for the little monsters that we call kids. 

Last night our little internet shop opened to a little fanfare, I tweeted a few links, put some stuff on Facebook and people came and viewed the shop. It is a leap of faith I never knew I was going to do and let alone do together with my wife. What happened next was awesome. People reaching out on how they can help promote. "Send me a flyer", "E-Mail me a link", "Do you have..." It was amazing to see so many people rooting for us. Refreshing actually. One email I got stuck out. It was from another internet shop owner. "Why do you photograph firemen?". So I thought about it and responded back: 

We have photography that shows real men and women doing extraordinary things. There is a print of a firefighter in a smokey building. You can barely see him, but if you were trapped in that building you would easily mistake the hands that pull you from that hell as the hands of God. I have another print of a vintage fire engine with bright reds and greens that any little boy would want in their rooms. I think people relate to it because when we were kids, that was the engine we imagined riding in one day. There is even a print inside of a structure as it is set on fire, a rare glimpse into what firemen see and the public rarely, if ever, sees. 

These aren't just photos to me. Behind every frame I've made there is sweat, passion, and desire of someone who absolutely loves the job they are doing. You have to love firefighting to do it. That passion is what I am after, a photo is the only way you can capture it.

A friend of mine has a saying about photography:

"A photo tells a story...a good photo starts one." - Adam Watt 

This is the start of our story.

Scene Size-Up

This is a piece I wrote for Fire Photographer Magazine: You can see it here.

You hear the scanner crackle to life with the words you've been waiting to here, arriving fire crews have just confirmed a working fire. You heart starts to pound as you grab your camera bag and rush out the door.

By the time you arrive on-scene you can hear the mutual aide fire crews en route, sirens blaring and the adrenaline is pumping through your veins. Like the arriving fire crews, you too must size up the scene quickly. You identify if there has been a perimeter set up, where the first due engines are set up and where new arriving crews are going to set up shop and where the fire is and is it accessible.

You work from the outside in, snapping crews walking down the D side, B side. You snap teams staging at the front door before making entry. After snapping photos you perform a secondary size-up. What is above me, what can possibly fall on me, what looks unstable, is it safe and accessible to get to the rear of the structure? You see ladder crews raising the tower to gain access to the roof. You stop, drop to a knee, grab a photo, and move on. You spend your time shooting the structure and the firemen coming in and out, those images are perishable. They won't be walking out of the fire for the first time ever again on this working fire, they just did that and if you weren't ready, there isn't a re-do.

The fire is out, you stop to check the status of the battery because you might have drained it during the fight; then you start to shoot the apparatus on the street. The wide shot showing the scope of the response, the close ups of the various trucks, lights still on, the fire fighter unstrapping his gear and sitting on the front bumper of the rig to catch his breath. You get close-ups of dirty faces, dirty gear, and spent tanks. In the 35-40 minutes you've been on scene your memory card is bursting, you're almost out of room for more, but you press on.

Fire scenes aren't just hectic for the firemen on scene, it is also a target rich environment for fire photographers trying to capture the moment as it is happening. In my opinion it is the closest thing you can get to combat photography outside of actual combat. Like firemen responding to a fire, photographers also need to have tactics and rules to keep themselves safe. We have to get the shot without putting ourselves in immediate danger.

This is our rush. This is our job.