SMILE ! SAYS THIS PERRY FIRE DEPARTMENT PHOTOGRAPHER
 Jim Duell - Jan 18, 2000 As in all Fire Departments there are some volunteers that are elected to serve as a 2nd Lieutenant moving up to 1st Lieutenant then to Captain then to 2nd Assistant Chief then 1st Assistant Chief then to Chief Engineer. Then there are some who are Truck Drivers of Engines, Ladders, Aerials, Rescue, Tankers, and some yet are doing Interior Fire Attack, while some are at the end of a hose manning the nozzle at pressures of 60 to 100 pounds pressure at the nozzle tip. In Perry yes, we have all of this too along with our very own Fire Photographer. When the alarm is sounded and the sirens blow, one of the first volunteers on the scene is Photographer JIM DUELL with his camera . While he is putting on his bunker, coat, helmet, & boots there are pictures being taken. First time around the whole scene containing all sides of the burning building with electric wires down, Jim has the shot. Within the first 10 minutes a 36 exposure roll of film has already been used. If the source of the blaze is at sight, Jim has the picture already. In most cases the cause of the blaze is in one of Jim's pictures. There are many photos that come out of a roll of exposed film. At a fire scene or an accident scene in the many, many fire albums of fire photos that Jim has in his archives, there are a lot of very serious pictures which have been used in the United States District Court System in Buffalo, NY for arson cases which a conviction was made. Jim started doing Fire Shots back in 1973 when all he had was a Kodak 110mm Instamatic Camera which he still has, and this fit nicely in his shirt pocket. Jim usually took a full roll of film at each alarm. Now, a few years down the road Jim now has three Minolta 35mm SLR cameras along with two pocket 35mm cameras and of course the ole stand by of the 110mm just in case. These cameras are all loaded with Color Print Film, Color Slide Film & Black & White Film which Jim developes his own B&W negitives and prints. Jim also has his own RCA Video Camcorder for doing videos at a special Fire Scene or Function authorized by the chief. On February 23,1993 the Perry Fire Department purchased a new Minolta 5xi AutoFocus Motorized 35mm Camera from State Grant Monies that were available to each department yearly. This new camera has a expansion card computer chips program these cards are used for doing Closeups, Automatic Depth Control, Flash Bracketing, Portraits, Exposure Bracketing. The same day Jim got this new camera he got to use it twice, once for an MVA during the daytime and then at a house fire in the evening hours. Both times at tempertures of 10 below zero. The camera at one point froze and quit working due to the cold air. After getting a vehical with the heat turned up high, both Jim & the camera soon got thawed out quickly. Jim did'nt even get a chance to experiment with the new and different computer cards. The pictures from the MVA were all very colorful with all the snow that day as a background. These pictures are only the beginning of a wonderful world of color fire photography. Jim sure wished that he had a camera like this 20 years ago when he started doing Fire Photography. There was a couple of times when he got the whole scene covered and should have run out of film but, the camera kept clicking and clicking. Why You Ask ! The film had come off the spindle inside the camera after the first or second picture. In thinking back, Jim says that his biggest night for pictures was the night that the Perry Town Hall & Auditorium burned on Friday January 28,1983. That alarm, Jim shot 14 rolls of including the flashover that was the best picture of all , along with all the inside detail, source of the fire was the electrical panel box in the basement, and all the clean-up the next morning and removel of the standing rubble. This alarm come into the fire hall at about 6:50pm on this friday night and we were there until late Sunday afternoon when we finished the cleanup detail. There was a lot of firemen from Perry, and many other companys & departments. There was also a very large audience watching from all angles. Jim has one whole album of fifty pages of just this alarm. Jim also worked the fire scene as an EMT with the ambulance and cleanup operations. It sure was a long weekend and the fire was labeled as a faulty electrical box in the basement which Jim had already had a picture of during the investigation proceedures. Some of Jim's other memories of a long weekend with a camera was, the Ice Storm of 1976 and the business block of Perry involving five businesses. One good memory was the weekend of the Perry Fire Departments 100 Year Celebration on June 6, 1987. Other photos include Carnival, Parades, Mud Volleyball, Sand Volleyball, Arts & Crafts Show, Antique Car Shows, Circus, Memorial Day Ceremonies, and the 1992 Western New York Volunteer Firemens Convention held in Perry with our own Jack Hulburt as President. Jim was on the Program Book Committee and did all the pictures for the book all done in Black & White and was developed & printed by Jim. These pictures were all done in a newly constructed darkroom that was put in the basement of the Perry Fire Department by Jim & others. Jim is looking into the process of doing color prints in the future along with Black & White prints.This darkroom was an old 4 foot by 8 foot utility room converted into a darkroom by painting all the walls black and adding a 2 foot by 4 foot darkroom sink with hot & cold running water. Jim has taken two courses at Genesee Community College on Basic Photography and camera use and developing negitives and making reprints from the newly developed negitives. Jim has also learned the effects of Dodging & Burning to make a print look more realistic. Jim has also gone to The New York State Academy of Fire Science in Mountour Falls, New York in Schyler county for a 2 - day in Fire Service Video Production. Perry Fire Department answers many mutual aid alarms to our small neighboring communities. We have a 4000 Gallon Tanker which is one of the first trucks asked for in a mutual aid alarm. Perry also has a new Rescue Truck which some of the new equiptment includes, a Cellular telephone with a Fax Machine and a four channel radio, Police Radio, Fire Police Radio, a compresser that is used for filling Scott Air Pack Bottles with breathing air which is very important needed system . This also carries the Town of Perry Jaws of Life , a Port A Power system, Venting Saw, K-12 Cutting Saw, Chain Saw, Plus much more. Many hours of training goes into knowing how each piece of equiptment functions and the right & wrong way of using each tool.The summer has quickly gone by and the area parades and carnivals have come to an end for another year but, Jim Duell has'nt stopped taking lots of pictures. Jim has quite a collection of new camera equiptment. Within the past year Jim has purchased a Minolta 5xi 35mm camera body and a Panasonic Palm Corder for videos along with a brand new Minolta Maxxum 5 35mm camera with a 28mm - 70mm Auto Focus Lens. He hasn't stopped yet he also has purchased 2 - Kodak digital cameras with a 8mb, 10mb, 16mb, & a 64mb picture card for use with the 210plus and the 290 digital camera's. Jim also has a 35mm Panoramic Prints Camera. Jim has a  Gateway Computer System to print his digitals on all his 25 different websites. He can scan the 35mm prints to also fit into his websites. Whats next for him ? Well ! Its now 2005 and He has just purchased a new Minolta 7D Digital DSLR Camera. This new camera has a 6.3 megapixel capacity. This has a 512mb Compact Flash Card and in the lowest resulation he can take 935 pictures in JPEG format. Also has a 28 - 100 AF 3.5 - 5.6 Auto Focus Digital Lens. So ! If you see someone in Perry turnout gear with a camera in his hand , Just smile and say cheese because chances are that Jim has already got your picture perfect picture.

niceshot.duell@gmail.com