Fire Photography - CHRIS PHILLIPS

Marta Gutierrez Rumoroso interviews Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service’s photographer

He loves his job. That’s the main reason Chris Phillips works as a Fire Service Photographer in Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. “Most of my work is outdoors, I never know what’s going to happen next; it isn’t routine ‘office work’ from a desk,” he explains.

Nowadays, 20 years after completing his degree and having worked as an industrial photographer, he has a new life with the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, where he’s worked for the past seven years. He comments, “I have never liked wedding and portrait work. I’m scared of it – I feel much safer at fires.”

For him it’s very difficult to remember individual assignments as the Fire Service photographer because he has completed many hundreds of jobs. In addition, he has to respect confidentiality about certain aspects of his job, so he can’t give a lot of details about many of them.

People often think that it’s a dangerous job after watching news on television about rescues, but Chris feels very safe working. He gets used to the dynamics of his job so there are rarely surprises in his work. “I have seen a lot of things that really aren’t nice to talk about. However, there’s a lot of safety in the job, and not as many risks as people imagine. Risk assessments are a top priority in ensuring the safety of everybody at the scene of an incident.

Despite often being called out in the early hours of the morning, Chris enjoys his job immensely and would not wish it to be any other way. According to him, he is lucky because he likes his job and feels his team includes his family, who put up with the erratic working day without complaint.

While most days are very varied, if he is not called to an incident, Chris works at his computer, compiling and making presentations about the latest safety messages for Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service. According to him, “Speed is the main advantage of digital technology. It’s great to be able to work so fast. I can download photos to my laptop, even from my car at the scene of an incident thanks to wireless technology and send my work directly to Headquarters; I can then continue to take photos. The photography is used for many purposes including the media, incident debriefs, internal and external publications, and for training”

In his rigorous working conditions equipment selection, care and preparation are vital. Phillips uses two camera models: a Nikon D2X and a Nikon D200, one with a wide angle, one with a short zoom lens (12-24mm and 17-55mm). You cannot change lenses at an incident with the dust, smoke and liquids flying around. He also says that it’s vital to know the fundamentals of photography - don’t use anything automatic, always manual, get it right and get out fast! “I prefer manual systems because I can control the camera. The fire doesn’t wait for you to set your camera correctly, and you cannot re-create it if you miss it.” Chris is almost always working in PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) which is not designed with photographers in mind!

Finally he talks about the attitude of young people in general towards the staff of the Fire and Rescue Services. “They rebel against people who wear uniforms, I don’t understand them because if they burn a car, for example, they’re creating a dangerous situation for the public and fire fighters who work to save people’s lives.” For this reason, one of the main tasks of Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service is teaching young people the value of their profession and about fire safety. Not forgetting the adults, of course - when did you last check your smoke alarm? Modern D-SLRs melt at 600°C – believe me I know from bitter experience.

Chris Phillips builds a story in just the same way as a news photographer. Here a crane has toppled over the dockside in Liverpool. The rescue services have first secured the vehicle to the dockside to prevent further slippage; the Mammoth Crane was luckily in the dock and was towed across to assist. In the second shot the ‘extrication’ of the injured driver is underway. In the rescue, teamwork is vital and the hats denote who is who; white for the officers-in-charge, yellow for the fire-fighters, and blue-green for the doctors. The flying squad doctor is providing specialist medical assistance to the rescue crew as they complete the extrication. The story had a happy ending; the driver was rescued and eventually made a full recovery.

Opposite: an unusual occurrence as two Combined Platform Ladders are brought into action. Merseyside has three of these sophisticated pieces of kit, the third was in operation on the other side of the blaze.

Photo Quote: A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into. - Ansel Adams