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Best of - Firefighting

Being lucky and being good are too different things all together in my world.

More often than not, I'm lucky to be in the right spot at the perfect moment and good enough to capture it as I see it. There is no greater proof of this to me than whenever I'm out at a fire.

Be it a wildfire, house fire or even a fire demonstration... a lot of luck has to come into play for me to get a really good shot. Otherwise... it's just another fire. Lucky for the area, we didn't really have any major huge wildfires like in the previous years, but there were still enough to warrant calling out the big guns from the Forest Service.

Jason Palmer/Times Record News
A Texas Forest Service air tanker helicopter drops water on the head of a large wildfire west of Hwy. 25 and Bradley Ranch Road near Kadane Corner. The fire consumed more than 800 acres of land before area fire departments brought it under control.

This was one of those fires that was way back in the woods and hills and difficult to see up close. I was basically out of luck for this fire. Most before long, I spotted the Forest Service helicopter heading towards the area and started shooting.

It took about 1/2 an hour of shooting before he really got close enough to my safe position to get something really worth publishing, but once I had the opportunity, I made the most of it. This really was one of my top ten of the year.

This next one ranks pretty high on my list as well...

Jason Palmer/Times Record News
Sunlight filters into a smoke-filled room as one of the teams participating in the Smoke House Rescue navigate around blindfolded during Fire Prevention Week at Sheppard Air Force Base Tuesday afternoon.

This was one of those assignments that really didn't lend itself to any kind of photograph unless I went inside the training house.

It wasn't filled with any kind of regular or toxic smoke, so I was okay, but the firefighters were totally blindfolded and feeling their way around the rooms. Once I knew the shot I wanted (the sunlight coming through the blinds)... I just had to sit and wait for the perfect moment. It took a few passes by different teams to get it right, but it was worth the wait.

Posted by Jason Palmer at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)