I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Administration of the IFPA to have me as a Featured Member. This is quite an honor.

 

Photography has been a passion of mine from a very early age. I remember when I was around six years old, my father, also an avid photographer, gave me my first camera. It was a Kodak Instamatic X-25. I used that camera all over the Detroit area and even on a trip to Italy when I was twelve. As a gift for my confirmation my father gave me Nikon compact zoom camera, which brought me into the world of 35mm film. My father and step-mother were avid photographers. They would develop film and slides in their own darkroom. As a child I spent a lot of time mimicking their actions when shooting my own pictures; learning the perils of getting the “perfect” shot.

 

Along with my love of photography, was my fascination with the Fire Service. My Grandfather was a retired Lieutenant with the Detroit Fire Department. As a child I would love to look at the pictures that he had of himself from fires and from his time on the job. Unfortunately, I was not able to hear a lot of the stories that I am sure my Grandfather had to tell. When I was fourteen he passed away from cancer. As the old-timers came through the funeral home, I heard story after story and thought what a great job this must be. These guys were talking about my Grandfather as if he was their brother.

 

After graduating from high school, I perused another career away from the Fire Service. But I still found myself constantly stopping and staring at the passing fire truck or ambulance. I bought a scanner and would listen to the Detroit Fire Department and the Suburban Metro Detroit Fire Departments constantly. One night during the summer I was listening to the scanner. Detroit had a huge, 4 alarm blaze working at 12th and Fort Street in a 5 story, vacant commercial building. On a whim, my girlfriend (now my wife) and I took a ride to this fire. We could see the fire from quite a distance. I still remember the feeling I got that night; that this was the most spectacular thing I had ever seen. Fire seemed to be jumping out of the roof of the building, illuminating the night sky. Every window from the third floor up seemed to be alive with this magnificent orange glow. It seemed to me that everyone there was taking pictures of this incredible scene; everyone but me. I really never thought to grab a camera before heading out the door that night. But looking back, it was one of the biggest mistakes I have made in my photography career.

 

After that fire, I started hanging around Detroit Engine 58 and Squad 6’s quarters where a cousin of mine worked. I purchased a used Pentax K-1000 with a zoom lens and a flash, and carried it with me everywhere. Devil’s Night 1994 was my first major adventure into Fire Photography. Early in the day I was at Engine 58 and took in a couple jobs; as I was gearing up for the night. I did not anticipate what was to come. It was a very busy night and I ran out of film and was not able to keep up with the amount of fire calls in the city and the amount of pictures I should have been taking. I learned a hard lesson that night: always have more film and batteries than you need.

 

My early years were filled with getting adjusted to action filled photography, and understanding the use of a SLR camera. As I look back on many of the photos from those years, I am reminded that with everything it takes time. Time to understand the subject you are shooting and the lack of time you have on the fireground to set up the shot you want.

In August of 1999, I was hired by the Detroit Metro Airport Fire/Rescue Department and my days of fire photography in Detroit took a back seat to my main focus of being a fire fighter. I stopped listening to the scanner and when Detroit transitioned to the new Michigan 800 MHz digital trunked system, I gave up on scanning all together. Not wanting to spend the money on a new scanner and the fact that I was newly married, caused me to put the fire photography on the back burner.

 

During the summer of 2007 while my family and I were on the way to an outing for the day we saw a large column of smoke in the Gratiot and I-94 area on the eastside of the city. Exiting the freeway to investigate, I remembered the feelings I used to get when I would take in a job in my younger years. The spark had been relit. I started listening to Detroit again, and started to take in some local jobs.

 

Today I work for the Eastpointe (MI) Fire Department, a suburb just to the northeast of Detroit. On my off days I can normally be found in the center part of the city waiting on a job. I work with a Nikon D3, and D300 with a variety of different lenses. I find that when I am shooting a fire scene that I let my fire training take over and follow the bulk of the action. As cliché as this sounds, I let the camera do the work. As I work a fire scene, I move constantly to where the action is: fire fighters pulling hose, setting up the ladder truck and hooking to a hydrant.

 

I have a lot to owe to my peers, such as: Dan Wade (Kenosha, WI), Steve Reddick (Chicago, IL), Chief Gordy Nord (Lyon, IL), Dennis Walus (Detroit, MI) and Bill Eisner (Detroit, MI) for the tips and tricks of this business. Without the support of these people I would not be where I am today. I thank them very much for showing me their secrets. Fire Photographers are a great bunch of people. We are not the cut throat “I need to get this to the magazines before you” types. We are there to capture history in the making. I had a question posed to me one night on the Westside while I was working a scene. A civilian came to me asking if I was from one of the local news agencies. When I said no, he then asked me why I was there. I answered, “I am here to capture the history of the fire service. I am here so that when these men and women retire, they will have something concrete to look back on.” Pictures are worth a thousand words. I find myself looking at pictures of jobs that I have worked, talking about the scene and what the conditions were like when we arrived, and reminiscing with the guys at the firehouse.

 

I have been published in Firehouse Magazine, Fire Rescue Magazine, The Macomb Daily (local daily newspaper), The Grosse Pointe News (local weekly newspaper), Fire Engineering.com, and FireRescue1.com. My most memorable photo was one that appeared on the front page of the Macomb Daily September 18, 2009. It was a house explosion in St. Clair Shores (suburb north of Detroit) that took the life of an elderly woman. When I arrived the scene was chaotic. There were bricks, furniture, clothes and other belongings strewn about the front yard. The fire was blowing out the back of this destroyed ranch style dwelling. The fire was caused by a leak in the gas line connected to the dryer and was ignited when the occupant started the dryer.

 

I consider myself very fortunate to be part of two great communities: the firefighting community and the fire photographer community. I am also very lucky to have a very understanding family, which allows me to take in jobs at night and leave on a moment’s notice to take in the big jobs.

 

Jason Frattini
www.eastwoodphotography.net