"Acacia I/C" 3-alarm - Apartment House Fire Glendale, CA - NYE 2011

Our final fire of 2011, this fire started in a garage to the rear of the occupied apartment building in the 800 block of Acacia in Glendale, CA.  The New Years Eve blaze quickly extended into the adjacent apartments which prompted a 3-alarm response to the scene to battle what had become two garage/auto fires as well as involved apartments and fire through the roof of the two-story structure.  Assisting units included assets from the cities of Burbank, Pasadena and South Pasadena.  The extent of damage and injuries as a result of this blaze were unknown at the time of this posting.  Although not immediately attributed to the serial arsonist currently working the LA area, it is believed a subject was apprehended by police as he fled the scene.

CLICK ON THE PHOTO TO VIEW THE ENTIRE GALLERY OR CLICK HERE.

Your's Truly Featured in 'Firemen's Grapevine' Magazine

I recently had the honor of being featured in the September issue of LAFRA's "Firemen's Grapevine" magazine, a monthly publication by the Los Angeles Firemen's Relief Assocation.  This is a great organization and I, along with several of my colleagues in Southern California, have been honored to provide them with photos and content for many years now.  Special thanks to Grapevine Editor Dave Wagner for the nod! 

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Copyright Firemen's Grapevine/LAFRA - Reprinted with permission 

Arizona Storm Chase - 2011

Late last month I joined up with fellow photographer Ed Sherman and headed to southern Arizona for some storm chasing with another pal, and extremely talented photog in his own right, Paul Freeman.  The monsoons were rolling in and brought with them some angry clouds which dropped some pretty impressive lightning.  On one evening we headed down to the Mexican border and shot some lightning.  A really friendly Border Patrol agent stopped by and we all chatted for a while as bolts were lighting up all around us.  He shared some cool stories about his three years working the border so far.  We ultimately had to get outta there because the lighting had surrounded us without us realizing it.  (It's bad when you hear the thunder at the same time you see the flash right?)  And, believe it or not, the "unfriendlies" were closing in from the border as well.  It's like the wild west down there, no kidding.  

We also chased some storms to the Grand Canyon but by the time we got there we decided conditions were better for photographing the sunset at the South Rim.  I'd never been to the Grand Canyon so now I can say I stopped by and shot a sunset there.  I had grown up hearing about the GC and thought I was burned out on the place thanks to the Travel Channel, Discovery Channel, etc.  Not so much.  Once I stepped foot on the rim my breath was taken away.  Badda-bing, badda-boom - we spent about an hour photographing one of the most dramatic sunsets I'd every seen and headed back to base camp in Phoenix.

Paul brought us to a great old ranch, the Empire Ranch in Sonoita.  That old place made for some cool pics too which you can see in the gallery!

It was a great three days of chasing, photographing, eating, drinking, chatting and driving.  Good times indeed.

One discovery we made along the way was definitley a sign of the times.  We spent quite a bit of time shooting pictures with our iPhones!  Taking full advantage of the arrary of cool photo apps available, we shot panos, HDRs, etc. with our phones and got great results (for phone cams).  Perhaps we saved our "real" cameras for the bigger scenes but even the quick phone images inspired us to really work a scene with the DSLRs.  I've posted some of the iPhone images HERE.  To view my entire gallery from the trip (sans iPhone images), including the lightning images, click one the images or HERE.

 

Atlantis' Solid Rocket Booster Returns for Final Time

NASA's Liberty Star vessel returned to Port Canaveral on July 10th towing Space Shuttle Atlantis' right Solid Rocket Booster (SRB).  The vessel and crew successfully retrieved the SRB after it splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.  The shuttle's left SRB did not return until the next day due to mechanical difficulties with it's towing vessel, Freedom Star.  The SRB's help propel the shuttle into orbit in addition to the orbiter's main engines.  Click on the image to view the entire gallery from the final launch. 

STS135 - The Final Flight

The final launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis also marks the end of NASA's thirty year Space Shuttle Program.  Thousands of media representatives and possible millions of spectators converged on central Florida and Kennedy Space Center for the historic July 8th launch.  

Despite torrential downpours and lightning the day before, Launch Director Mike Leinbach decided to push through with only a 30% chance for favorable weather at launch time.  To the surprise of thousands the launch countdown continued as weather cleared.  Aside from a brief mechanical glitch which held the countdown at T-minus 31 seconds, the launch went off without a hitch.  Many members of the media, several who had been covering the program for decades, could be seen with watery eyes as they said goodbye to an old friend.

Click on the image to view the entire gallery.