I want to thank Barry Nuss who is the Fire Marshal and Public Information Officer for the Lincoln County Fire Protection District 1 in Troy, Missouri, for requesting I reach out to fellow PIO’s and PAO’s to find out what they carry in their “go bags” for large scale incidents.
I’m interested to see what you guys travel to incidents with. I am in the position of being both a PIO and Class A firefighter. I have to be prepared on numerous fronts to have “go to” equipment in a number of places.
At one time in public relations, scissors and glue where two mainstays of the job. You would get press, either cut the article out of the publication yourself or get it pre cut from a clipping service, glue it and place it in a scrap book with all the PR for the year. At the end of the year you would file the book with others from years gone by and have another volume of archival material. Electronic media would be obtained from a broadcasting monitoring service and also be archived in neat rows of VCR tapes. Times have obviously changed though.
I do a lot of photography work for my Department and wish I had the budget to purchase a really good SLR digital like the Canon EOS 50D. Unfortunately two things are in my way. First is the price. At over $1,000 I would have to baby the camera at a scene which would not allow me to get the aggressive pictures I want. Secondly, with the dynamics of the fireground an “injury” to the camera must always be considered.
Last month we had a barn fire. It was muddy and smoky on the fireground. My poor Canon Powershot S90 got hammered with smoke and a shower of debris and water from a deuce and a half. I mourned this LODD because this camera had done me great service for more than a year.
A couple of years ago one of the guys at the firehouse was showing me how to use Photoshop. I needed to learn some simple skills – specifically how to erase license plates from MVA photos I wanted to send to the press. As a result of boredom over the lesson the famed “sock on fire” trick photo shot was created.
It’s pretty funny when you look at some of the altered images people create with programs like Photoshop, but it is no laughing matter when the press or a news source uses these tools to create something that isn’t really there.
I was contacted a few weeks ago by a free distribution children’s magazine that was doing a story on what kids wanted to be when they grew up. Obviously, as it has been for generations, becoming a firefighter ranked right up towards the top.
The editor did not need the Departments input into the story but instead wanted me to e-mail a series of photo’s that depicted what we do both in the firehouse and at a scene without being too graphic for children to look at.
Many PIO’s also serve as their department’s photographer. In my department I take hundreds of photos a year along with another firefighter who also handles camera duties.
We both do pretty good work at a scene and many of our photos are used by the media. I am much more comfortable and talented at snapping the action at a fire then shooting a group photo at an awards ceremony. I always feel that the way I ask a group to pose is the same way it has been done since the camera was invented.
Towards the top of my “to do” list is a push to increase the number of generic photos in my files. Generic shots would include all of our apparatus, photos of Chiefs, training and fireground shots etc.
As any editor will tell you, a release with a photo has a much higher chance of being used and could elevate your story from a few column centimeters on an inside page to a more prominent position and possibly the front page. This just happened to a story about a member in my department.
Talk about timing. Just yesterday morning I posted about the three quick decisions I have to make as a firefighter/PIO when I arrive at a scene. They were, perform the duties of a firefighter if manpower is lacking, perform my normal duties as the PIO, or watch to see the scene unfold to determine where I can best serve. I also mentioned that I occasionally go behind the lines to interact with bystanders. Little did I know that just a few hours later I would have to use all three options when we were toned out to a fully involved house fire.
When I teach Probies in my departments internal fire school, I always tell them that they already know more than many veteran members. Because of the most up to date tactics that they are learning, they already have one up on the older guys who become complacent and are hesitant to constantly upgrade their skills to be on the cusp of today’s standards.
The same is true for PIO’s. If we do not constantly stay up to day on the latest trends and tools we are always taking a step backward.
I wrote a few days ago about the tragic manhole accident in my own town, Smithtown, NY, that took the life of a seventeen year old boy. The incident was toned out at 9:11pm this past Sunday night.
The media response to the incident left me wondering if the press is looking to us to do the heavy lifting for them.
In my duties as PIO I also serve as photographer and videographer. Strange how the powers that be assume that a solid knowledge of public information also comes with a degree from a school of photographic arts. I truly enjoy taking action shots at run scenes but staged group shots are sometimes a challenge.
That being said, I did go to photography school in a way via Art Leonard.
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