The Fire at Joseph's Run

Okay, here is the update I promised.

Yesterday just as I finished turning in an assignment from earlier that morning, Ryan called me about a fire at a nearby apartment building. In Ryan's words, "Huge fire! Huge fire!" Anyway, I hopped in my car and drove as swiftly as possible to the scene. By the time I got there (only about 20 minutes after the fire was reported), the flames were pretty much out. First I shot a few frames from a distance, then I moved in closer. Consumed by what was happening in front of me, I focused my attention on the fire for about the first 15 minutes at the scene. Next, I began talking with the displaced residents, none of which had been injured in the fire. I stayed at the apartments talking with people for about an hour and a half, and then I headed back to the paper to turn in a photo for the web. However, when I got back and started editing my photos, I realized that I had not gotten anything very story telling from my shots of the people who were effected by the fire. So, after turning in my web photo, I headed back to the apartments to hopefully catch families as they went back into the building to retrieve their belongings. Luckily, I got there just in time. The result was the above photo.

Caption:Standing outside of what used to be her home, 28-year-old Brandi Presley holds onto the few possessions she was able to collect from the apartment following Wednesday's fire at The Village at Joseph's Run Apartments in Midland. Included in the mementos were a stuffed animal and an afghan that belonged to Brandi's daughter, Allysa Jo Planer, 4, who died in December 2008 as a result of injuries suffered from a car accident earlier that year. "I don't care about nothing else," said Brandi as she fought back tears. "I just wanted to get Allysa's stuff, because it can't be replaced." Brandi, her husband Harold Presley and her three children, Brooklyn Presley, Tyler Planer and Jasmine Hackworth had been living in their apartment on the north side of the 520 building since August of 2008.

Needless to say, this was probably one of the saddest things I have ever photographed. Below is a link to the story if you'd like to read more.

http://ourmidland.com/articles/2009/05/07/local_news/1777454.txt