The Journal of another type today. Last week on Thursday I was spending a day downtown catching up on chores that had been delayed because of recent fishing trips to the Thompson River and out bar fishing on the Fraser River.
I was taking in some bottles to the bottle depot, actually more than some as I had them both in the Leaf Craft and the Leaf Mobile. :-) As I counted them out I kept hearing the sounds of a lot of sirens, I did not pay much heed as it seems to be a common occurrence in Chilliwack these days as it continues to grow, population wise.
A rain starts to fall so I decide to go for lunch and come back after and finish this unpleasant task of sorting out tins and bottles.
As I drive towards downtown I see a plume of smoke rising. As I freelance for Global TV and have done 13 news items over the years I decide to investigate, maybe shoot #14.
As I get near I see firemen and police vehicles everywhere. Towing the Leaf Craft made it a bit hard to find a parking spot but I finally find one, not far from the scene. I grab my video camera and head to the fire that I now see is an apartment on Princess Avenue. As I head toward the scene I phone radio 1130 and give them a report, they had not yet heard about it, I wonder if another Global freelancer is there.
When I get closer I see the fire has been knocked down some but there is plenty of firemen around and the ladder bucket is still high in the sky, my new JVC Everio camera begins to roll. The only other video camera I see is Shaw TV. After a few more action shots I then join in with a shaw TV Crew interviewing the Chilliwack Fire Departments information officer. See the interview about the fire at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krw1Emm3eUo.
I then join in with another interview with the women RCMP information officer Dunlop for more tape
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGlxQ-lzHJY . Part way through this interview my battery dies and my spare was also dead, at home, what a reporter. Anyway I think I have enough copy including the firemen rescuing at cat from the blaze,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL9nYbacvrQ.
I then phone the station in Burnaby to see if they knew about the fire, I am put through to 2 different staff members before I reach the assignment editor Oliver Lum. I explain what has gone on. He said he had some reports coming in about the fire but he thought it was not that big. I said it was as almost of Chilliwack's Fire Stations were there. I said I had some footage but not as good as it could have been as I arrived late to the scene. He says some tape is better than none at all. He says he will hone me back and decide if he will send the stations satellite truck or not. I mill about with many other on lookers.
A few minutes later Oliver phones back and says he is sending the truck and reporter Rumina Daya. He says Rumina will phone me when she gets closer, they will be at least 1 hour and 30 minutes away so I head home to charge the batteries and put the tape I have filmed on a DVD.
During this Rumina phones and says she is running late but will phone when she gets closer and we can meet at the fire scene. Gosh they are going to run close to the 5 news but maybe they will be satisfied going for the major news at 6. However knowing TV they like to get stories on as soon as possible so to beat out the other stations.
I head back to the fire and the crews are mopping up and getting ready to leave but the police are sealing off the scene as a crime scene as I hear that an argument had developed between a mother and her son and he had set a mattress on fire that spread to the other 14 suites. Thankfully all tenants had escaped unhurt. Tenants are milling about and I tell them Global is coming and I imagine they would like to interview them. I also tell the fire department information officership if he could stay for a further interview, he says he will be here for a bit yet.
Finally the satellite ruck arrives with the technician who says the camera crew will be late as now they are covering a truck mishap nearby that has nearly gone over the overpass over the Little Chilliwack River. The station will be happy as they will get two stories now, instead of one. The technican checks where to set up the dish on the truck and moves the dish around for the best position to send out the signal. I watch from inside the truck that is full of monitors and other stuff. Finally the TV cameraman arrives and begins to film some of the damage to the apartment, no Rumina yet. I give my disk to the technican and we check it out on his computer, it works. I point out some scenes that would maybe help fill out the report. He says the cameraman will most likely film my tape from the computer screen and use it that way, interesting way of doing it. I thought they had a means of running it into the system another way.
Another chap has some clips of the early stages of the fire on his cell phone that will also add to the story even though the quality will not be that good but as I said something is better than nothing in the world of TV news.
Rumania finally arrives, a little over 1 hour to news time. I tell her that I have given my tape to the satellite truck operator and tell her what may be of interest. She thanks me and heads off to do some interviews with the tenants and the fire departments information officer. I continue completing what I had planned to do that day before heading home to see the news and how my coverage is used.
The story was completed on time as a short versions runs at 5 and the complete report at 6, fairly high in the news. They use 20 seconds of my tape including the cat rescue scene, the ladder high above the apartment and the firemen gathered around the apartment.
4 hours of work for 20 seconds of air time but it again was interesting stuff to be involved in and the freelance fee I receive will help pay for the new camera or some fishing gear. Another day, another journal of another type completed.
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Topic: Major Fire In Chilliwack (Read 2685 times)