Under Fire

By Gordon Hopkins It takes something really big these days to knock the eternal mud rally that passes for politics off the top of the national news feeds. Sadly, we got something big enough this week.Right now, the biggest national news story is the wildfires currently decimating southern California. Aerial shots of the blazes have dominated the front pages of national (and even some local) newspapers and TV screens and the tops of news websites. Glowing yellow and orange ribbons draped across landscapes at night are the default images for reporting outlets, followed closely by the charred and still smoldering, skeletal aftermath. I've covered far too many fires for my liking in my time at FJN. I sometimes worry about how this job affects me and fire stories are one of the best examples. It is awfully easy to become detached from what is a horrific scene when you see it through a camera viewfinder, focusing on getting the shot. The reality, the tragedy, tends only to hit me after it is all over. Perhaps that is for the best. I doubt I could get the story, which is my job, if I had to feel the pain and horror as it was happening. Work-wise, at least, it is better that if it doesn't hit me until after the fact. Although I do admit, I sometimes worry about the day the pain and the horror doesn't hit me after the fact. If that day comes, perhaps that will be time to pack it in.Watching the California fires is different, of course, because I am not reporting. In this instance, I'm just a spectator like everyone else. I'm someone who has been to California and loved it and who knows people there and frets about those friends and wonders if they are all right.I get to feel the horror in real time, like everyone else. At least I can say I've covered few truly big fires. When I see the reports coming out of Los Angeles, the first thing that jumps to mind, for me at least, is the Rock Creek fire from 2023. Indeed, it can probably be considered one of the biggest stories I've ever covered. Yet, I acknowledge that my reporting of one of the biggest stories I've ever covered wasn't all that great. I have managed to keep a good working relationship with emergency crews here in Jefferson County and the way I have done that is by, number one, staying out of the way. During the Rock Creek fire, I was so concerned about not getting in the way of such a huge operation that I stayed too far back, both literally and figuratively, and likely missed some important coverage. I remember another wildfire I covered before that. It wasn't as big as the Rock Creek fire but it was still big enough that driving into the smoke was like driving into a fog bank. Suddenly, I was virtually blind and completely lost, until a fire truck drove by and the driver directed me out of the smoky void. Perhaps that was why I was so timid when covering the Rock Creek fire. I didn't want that to happen again.That is something else I think about as I watch the California fire coverage, all those reporters trying to find the right balance between getting the story and not getting in the way.

Maurice J. “Pete” Cumro

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