Most photographers aren’t in the business long enough to see “the big one.” They have heard about them, and seen the pictures, but just haven’t been lucky enough to be around when they happen.

Staff photo by Bob Hammerstrom^^With a large diameter hose wrapped around him, Nashua Fire Lt. Rick Conway appears out of a cloud of smoke Monday while fighting a large apartment building fire off Lake Street.

I’ve been shooting full-time for newspapers since 1986, and have seen some big fires. Yesterday’s fire in Nashua, would be considered “a big one” to me. But it’s not “the big one.” I can remember well, covering large apartment building fires in Fitchburg and Leominster, Mass., where I worked in the 1990’s. I also covered much larger fires in Gardner, Mass., on two occassions, when big mills burned down.

What I enjoyed about covering this fire, was the dramatic smoke plume. It could be seen for miles.

Nashua firefighters stretch lines into an apartment building burning on Lake Street.

 The burning asphalt on the roof made the smoke dark black. These were a couple of my favorites. You can see many more photographs taken by myself, and photo editor, Don Himsel in the MyCapture galleries on www.nashuatelegraph.com.

-Bob Hammerstrom

bhammerstrom@nashuatelegraph.com

Tags: Bob Hammerstrom, Building, burning, department, don himsel, fire, firefighter, fireman, firemen, galleries, gallery, hose, Lake Street, MyCapture, nashua, photo