Fire Company 40

Engine man Mike Sosnoski washes engine 401 as the sun sets over the house.


I had the honor of doing a ride-a-long with Anne Arundel County's West Annapolis Volunteer Fire Company Station 40 last Thursday for a photo page that ran on Saturday. I was able to document the firefighters for six hours from 1 to 7 pm. I wish that we had been given the assignment sooner because it would have been good to spend more time on it. My fellow Capital shooter Josh McKerrow covered the morning shift and we shared the photo page. Reporter Scott Daugherty wrote the accompanying article.






Captain John Lane on the mic answers a call in engine 402.



The firefighters do a very important job, and I was glad to be on this assignment. People rarely think about firefighters or police officers until they need one. I arrived at the station at 1 p.m. and some of the guys were just sitting down to eat lunch. I was not there two minutes when a call came in. I barely had time to set my gear down. I was not even sure what I would be doing as far as the ride-a-long when Captain John Lane said "Are you coming?"

"I guess so." I jumped on the engine. Lunch would have to wait.

The engine was screaming down Route 2 south with the siren whaling. It was exciting. What little boy has not imagined himself as a firefighter? Riding on the back of the truck, sirens blaring, cars moving out of the way - it was a childhood fantasy come true. These are the assignments that make me think my job the best. I am lucky to do it.

The first call was a medical emergency. Every call I went on that day would be of a medical nature. While I am glad that there were no fires for the community's sake, it makes for a less-than-exciting photo page when your story is about firefighters. A majority of the call were actually from doctors' offices to transport people that the doctors felt should be in the hospital emergency room. Three calls were actually from the Sajak Pavilion, which is a medical facility across the street from the hospital.

Another part of the day was checking access at local businesses, like the mall, in case of a fire. Speaking of the mall, we had a call to the food court for someone passed out drunk in the men's room.



As a newspaper photographer, I am just one part of the process of putting out the paper. Once I shoot the assignment and turn in my photos, they are out of my control. Sometimes this leads to me being disappointed with the final product. This was one of those times. Out of the four images here, only the top one ran in the paper.

Part of this may have been my own fault. I turned in 16 shots. I should learn to only turn in what I really would like to run. I lay the rest of the blame on the page designer. We put a lot of work into these photo pages, and I wish they would work with us more on the page layout.

This is something I may try and work on with the layout desk and editors. If we work together, I think that we all could be happier and turn out a better product. Maybe it is a paternal feeling I have, as a photographer, for my images, but I take it personally when they don't get the play I think they deserve.

But hey, that is what this blog is for.

Thanks again to the firefighters in Fire Company 40 for the opportunity to tell their story.