© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
What a week! In the span of 3 days I covered a bomb found in a mall, a wildfire and a structure fire. My job is never boring that is for sure. Here’s a collection of pictures from the chaos. The photo above and the following 2 are from the Myers Gulch house fire.
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
The next series of pictures are from the Southwest Plaza Mall bomb scare on March 20. I have to say that the timing of this was particularly awful. Around 10am on Wednesday, I got a call from a reporter that there was a fire at the mall. This happens a lot more than you would think. About once a month I get a call that there is a fire at the mall and it almost always turns out to be a minor incident. One of the reasons this made national headlines was because it also happened to be the 12th anniversary of the shootings at Columbine. It’s still unclear if the two incidents were supposed to be related but the timing and materials used are eerily similar to the ones used at Columbine High School. I knew this wasn’t going to be a minor event when the PIO showed up and said “you’re gonna want to stick around for this.”
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
And finally I had the opportunity to take a “media tour” of the Meyer Ranch fire area. By the time we were allowed access, it was mostly knocked down. There wasn’t much in the way of active fire. It was still nice to have to opportunity to shoot something up close without using a long lens. All in a weeks work.
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011
© Matthew Jonas 2011/Evergreen Newspapers 2011