My first photo published in Firehouse was back in 1989. I had been doing fire scene photography for a while before that, but I had not submitted my images anywhere except newspapers. Through owning my camera store in Bergenfield, N.J., I had the fortune of having Firehouse Editor-in-Chief Harvey Eisner live in the next town over. He became a good customer and a great friend. Harvey and other area fire photographers gave me the inspiration to submit to the national magazines.
The caliber of the fire photography in Firehouse has always been the best, and once my photo was up there with the top photographers, I was determined to continue.
My first cover was not until 1997. It was of a general alarm fire in Paterson, N.J., which tore through a old mill building. That is still one of my proudest moments. That cover, along with several others, still hang in my store.
