I was just about to go to bed early one evening when I heard the tones drop for a cottage fire on Manion Street…I got dressed again and grabbed my camera and headed that way. As I approached the intersection, I could see heavy smoke and heard the pumper approaching from the other direction, so I quickly spotted my truck out of the way on the south side and ran up to the scene…to capture these images of the cottage on fire behind a residence, as firefighters were pulling handlines to fight the fire with….

…after taking this last one, I noticed they were short of help and needed to hand lay a supply line to the hydrant…I advised firefighter Jimmy Smythe that the closest hydrant was at the intersection where I parked, Manion and Euclid, and helped them drag the hose to that hydrant. I then repositioned my truck, driving around the block and photographed the fire under control before heading home. I found out later that this was a taxidermy shop, not a cottage.