This was probably the scariest fire I’ve ever photographed. It was a 5-11 Alarm with 2 Specials at 2750 W. 35th Street in Chicago on September 18, 1997. There were three buildings raining from three to seven stories in height. I was setup in a parking lot on the east side of the complex that had lights. I was going to concentrate on the new HME/LTI tower ladder that was assigned to TL10. I was hoping for a calendar image of this new unit and I was working off a tripod with my medium format Mamiya RZ67.
Tower Ladder 5 (an E-ONE) was already working a master stream in the back corner of the same lot. The building was well-involved and the fire was communicating between building sections on the upper floors. There were several firefighters working (or perhaps walking) at the base of the building and I remember hearing that the squad had just crossed into the far section of the building.
These first images depict the scene as I’ve described it.
Tower Ladder 5 operates from the far end of the parking lot with one man in the bucket. Larry Shapiro photo
Fire is throughout these two buildings. Larry Shapiro photo
Within a matter of minutes, there was a loud noise, followed by almost complete darkness and silence. The parking lot lights went out as a massive building collapse occurred. The silence was eerie. It was if time had stopped. I felt that I had probably just witnessed what would be one of the largest modern-day losses of life at a fire scene. I couldn’t see anything. It was as if the glow from the flames had diminished greatly. And then, out of nowhere, there was a lone siren of an ambulance heading to this parking lot from elsewhere on the foreground.
A startled fireman is visible in the bucket of Tower Ladder 10 as the building begins to fall. Larry Shapiro photo
As the building comes down, the fireman from the bucket can be seen fleeing down the ladder as the parking lot goes dark. Larry Shapiro photo
Then the radio traffic went nuts … and miraculously, everyone was accounted for. The squad company heard or felt the impending collapse and bailed across into the other building section. The firefighters at the base of the building must have been just passing through the area, because they too were all safe. If my memory serves me correctly, the only injury was burns to the hands of the firefighter that had been in the bucket of Tower Ladder 5. He evidently slid down using his hands along the ladder.
The now unmanned master stream from Tower Ladder 5 silhouetted against the ruins. Larry Shapiro photo
Tower Ladder 10 about to get setup for another master stream. Larry Shapiro photo
Bear in mind that the sequence of image were all captured with a medium-format camera, on a tripod, with a remote cable release, with a manual shutter advance, on Fuji RHP transparency film. This explains the steady capture despite the excitement of the situation.
