Early Morning Interview

Here’s coverage from Channel 2 (WTDN) in Dayton. I need to clarify:

1. The Ohio State Fire Marshal was NOT called, nor did they respond to this fire. Our own Fire Marshal, Mike Long, from Washington Township FD was on scene to investigate this fire.
2. Flames did NOT shoot from the roof. They were visible on the roof. According to Fire Marshal Long, there is a membrane-type material on the roof that had caught fire, but it was not venting through the roof like we see on many fires.

From WDTN website

WASHINGTON TWP. (WDTN) – The state fire marshal was called to a Washington Township business after it went up in flames Wednesday morning.

It happened around 3 a.m. at Lancaster Bingo Corporation, located in the 700 block of Congress Park Drive.

Motion detectors picked up the moving flames and set off the alarm system.

When firefighters arrived they say flames were shooting into the air.

“When they arrived they did find flames on the roof, said Rich Palmer of the Washington Township Fire Department. “They made access through the back of the building through a garage door area and found a bunch of containers … cardboard boxes and storage items on fire.”

Investigators determined the cause to be electrical.

The damage is estimated at about $250,000.

Additional news coverage

WHIO in Dayton also covered this fire. They do not offer a video embed option. The story can be found at their web site.
Clarifications:

1. The Washington Township Fire Department did not fear that they would lose the roof.
2. The firefighters did not have to fight through thick smoke to get to the source of the fire. It was present as soon as they opened the back door to the building (see my interview in the video).

An additional (and seemingly more accurate) detail of this fire can be found at the Dayton Daily News website.

WKEF22/FOX45 ran a short story on this fire, as well.

Catching the action

So often we hear that news camera operators are out to get the “blood and guts” stories. We hear the term “if it bleeds, it leads.” Very often they are on scene to capture the action and get as much of the story as possible through the images that can be shared.

Stepping away from the camera

WDTN photographer Don Hatcher was recently awarded the Urbana Citizen Life Saving Award. He had arrived on the scene of a serious car crash on January 18, 2008. When he arrived, he had the opportunity to catch all the action as it unfolded. However, he realized that a man was in very serious danger. He put down his camera and entered the vehicle to attempt to do everything that he could for the man. Urbana firefighters say that his actions and that of a UPS driver helped to save the life of Denny Howell.

Urbana Daily Citizen report

The Urbana Daily Citizen reported the crash from January 18, 2008. Breanne Parcels wrote:

Hatcher said he was on his way back to work in Springfield from lunch at his home on Woodburn Road when he heard about the crash on the emergency-band scanner in his vehicle.

“I turned around and I knew I would probably beat the medics,” he said. “When I got there I saw a bunch of people milling around and one guy tried to stop me when he saw the camera, but I put it down and said, ‘that guy needs help.’”

Hatcher said he’s no stranger to accident scenes, so he knew what to do to keep Howell stabilized and prevent further internal injuries until an ambulance arrived.

“He was in pretty bad shape,” Hatcher said. “He was choking and I tried to hold him still so he wouldn’t hurt his back until the paramedics were able to suction him, and there was a lot of blood when they inserted the breathing tube. He never did come to.”

Source: Urbana Daily Citizen

Video of the award presentation