"So This Fire Is, Like, Whoa!"
*thanks to Tracy for the quote ;-)*
So I'm just now coming down off of this adrenaline high.
I got up this morning, took a shower, went to my room to dress, and turned on the news to check the weather. And there, splashed on the screen, huge fucking fire.
It was right in the heart of downtown. A big 4 alarmer. I start thinking, hmmm, I wonder if anyone at the station has seen this.
I look at my phone and sure enough, missed call after missed call.
So I'm running out the door grabbing any book I can see even though I kind of already know at this point I'm not going to class today.
I'm speeding down Chapman (for me, that is. I'm going maybe 60?) calling around to see who is at the scene, who is at WUTK, etc.
I park in the Market Street Garage, and literally just follow the smoke. I up toward Summit Hill, and as I get to the top I can see the flames and smoke.
I was, at this point thinking, how fucking awesome is this?!
I make my way down to where there are a bunch of other news media types camped out, and start just listening and seeing what I can find out. (By the way, I'm so close to the fire at this point I can feel the water droplets spray my face.)
The flames died down enough to where we didn't see them anymore, and there was just a pillar of smoke pouring off the buildings. I called the station and had Rena patch me through to a live feed, where I pretty much just rambled on for a bit.
I get off the phone, and make my way over to a friendly looking police officer who chats with me for a while, but tells me he can't go on air for legal reasons. He does, however, point me in the right direction, and I thank him and mosey my way down the hill. This is the first of many times I walk up and down Vine Street today. As I'm walking I call up Michael, aka Golden Boy, the former News Director (ME!) at WUTK and now working for News Talk 100. He tells me there is going to be a press conference at 11:30 with the mayor at the corner of Gay and Depot.
I get there, watch the fire some more, call in again to the station, and Golden Boy shows up. He's joined by a girl that looks really familiar and turns out to be Jodi Felkley, with whom I went to high school.
So Michael, Jodi, and I walk back up to the vantage point on the ridge, above the fire. We talk to some guy who is a secretary for the Retired Firefighters Association or something like that. We then head back down to where we were cause Mayor Haslam is on his way. We sit and warm up in their station vehicle, and chat a bit. That's when Jodi and I remember each other, and do the who "Yeah, I was going to ask but sort of embarrassed to" thing. I mean, we graduated the same year and everything. We really should have recognized each other better. lol
Haslam shows up, I get to do the press junket thing, throw a mic in his face, get some sound. After that Michael and Jodi give me a ride back to my car, I fly over to the station and start editing sound.
I also get on the phone and start calling people. I finally get ahold of the PR person for the City of Knoxville Fire Dept. He gave me an update on the condition of the four fire fighters who were injured, also he was able at that point to release names. The interview was going very well until I started asking some difficult questions about safety concerns, a lack of Self Contained Breathing Apparatuses on the four who were injured (my bro is a fire fighter and I spoke with him earlier, he gave me some ideas for what to ask). Suddenly, after I started asking those questions, the call mysteriously cut out. I got my first hang up!
So at this point it is really close to on-air time, so I decide our best bet is for me to just give a live interview and basically wing it.
I had some sound from the PR guy where he was giving the info on the firefighters, and I played that in the middle of my rambling. I left the haslam interview for the 5 news cast people.
at 2:08 this afternoon, I finally sat down and took a breath.
Today was the day I became a journalist.
So I'm just now coming down off of this adrenaline high.
I got up this morning, took a shower, went to my room to dress, and turned on the news to check the weather. And there, splashed on the screen, huge fucking fire.
It was right in the heart of downtown. A big 4 alarmer. I start thinking, hmmm, I wonder if anyone at the station has seen this.
I look at my phone and sure enough, missed call after missed call.
So I'm running out the door grabbing any book I can see even though I kind of already know at this point I'm not going to class today.
I'm speeding down Chapman (for me, that is. I'm going maybe 60?) calling around to see who is at the scene, who is at WUTK, etc.
I park in the Market Street Garage, and literally just follow the smoke. I up toward Summit Hill, and as I get to the top I can see the flames and smoke.
I was, at this point thinking, how fucking awesome is this?!
I make my way down to where there are a bunch of other news media types camped out, and start just listening and seeing what I can find out. (By the way, I'm so close to the fire at this point I can feel the water droplets spray my face.)
The flames died down enough to where we didn't see them anymore, and there was just a pillar of smoke pouring off the buildings. I called the station and had Rena patch me through to a live feed, where I pretty much just rambled on for a bit.
I get off the phone, and make my way over to a friendly looking police officer who chats with me for a while, but tells me he can't go on air for legal reasons. He does, however, point me in the right direction, and I thank him and mosey my way down the hill. This is the first of many times I walk up and down Vine Street today. As I'm walking I call up Michael, aka Golden Boy, the former News Director (ME!) at WUTK and now working for News Talk 100. He tells me there is going to be a press conference at 11:30 with the mayor at the corner of Gay and Depot.
I get there, watch the fire some more, call in again to the station, and Golden Boy shows up. He's joined by a girl that looks really familiar and turns out to be Jodi Felkley, with whom I went to high school.
So Michael, Jodi, and I walk back up to the vantage point on the ridge, above the fire. We talk to some guy who is a secretary for the Retired Firefighters Association or something like that. We then head back down to where we were cause Mayor Haslam is on his way. We sit and warm up in their station vehicle, and chat a bit. That's when Jodi and I remember each other, and do the who "Yeah, I was going to ask but sort of embarrassed to" thing. I mean, we graduated the same year and everything. We really should have recognized each other better. lol
Haslam shows up, I get to do the press junket thing, throw a mic in his face, get some sound. After that Michael and Jodi give me a ride back to my car, I fly over to the station and start editing sound.
I also get on the phone and start calling people. I finally get ahold of the PR person for the City of Knoxville Fire Dept. He gave me an update on the condition of the four fire fighters who were injured, also he was able at that point to release names. The interview was going very well until I started asking some difficult questions about safety concerns, a lack of Self Contained Breathing Apparatuses on the four who were injured (my bro is a fire fighter and I spoke with him earlier, he gave me some ideas for what to ask). Suddenly, after I started asking those questions, the call mysteriously cut out. I got my first hang up!
So at this point it is really close to on-air time, so I decide our best bet is for me to just give a live interview and basically wing it.
I had some sound from the PR guy where he was giving the info on the firefighters, and I played that in the middle of my rambling. I left the haslam interview for the 5 news cast people.
at 2:08 this afternoon, I finally sat down and took a breath.
Today was the day I became a journalist.