Category Archives: Blog

Blog

Dyer Mill fire becomes the Texas Forest Service’s top priority

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Public Information Officer Lee Bentley from Sonnora, California watches as an aerial firefighting helicopter drops retardant on the Dyer fire in Grimes County, Texas on June 21, 2011. (Matthew Crawley)

Lee Bentley from Northern California watches as an aerial firefighting helicopter drops retardant on the Dyer Mill fire in Grimes County, Texas on June 21, 2011. (Matthew Crawley)

The Dyer Mill Fire in Grimes County became the top priority of Texas Forest Service on Tuesday as the fire continued to grow for a third day.  I spent several hours with firefighter Lee Bentley from Northern California, who has been brought in as part as the incident management team which is coordinating the battle.  We visited some of the fire crews battling the fires scattered over the more than 5800 acres scorched by the fire. It is smokey, dusty, hot and not easy to make to area where the fire is burning.

Continue reading →

Grimes County Wildfires at night

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Smoke and flame from the Dyer fire lights up the the Grimes County, Texas horizon east of Whitehall on June 20, 2011. (Matthew Crawley)

Smoke and flame from the Dyer fire lights up the the Grimes County, Texas horizon east of Whitehall on June 20, 2011.

[S]ee the rest of the gallery.  More than 40 homes have been destroyed and hundreds families have been evacuated due to the Dyer fire that started from a barbecue pit on Sunday June 19, 2011.

I encourage you to consider how you can help the victims of this fire and pray that we get rain this afternoon.

So you want to shoot a shuttle launch…

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Space Shuttle Discovery takes off from the Kennedy Space Center for the final time on February 24, 2011. Discovery's mission takes it to the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Discovery takes off from the Kennedy Space Center for the final time on February 24, 2011. Discovery's mission takes it to the International Space Station.

 

 

If you are looking for general information about viewing or photographing the launch, I suggest heading over to Ben Cooper’s excellent site, Launchphotography.com.

To see my images from STS-133, head to the gallery.

[T]here is only one shuttle launch left before the program retires and you want to shoot it.  Well, I am here to give you a couple of pointers from what I learned covering the launch of the Discovery in February. I don’t claim to be an expert but will point you to a few along the way in this post. Continue reading →

May 27, 1997: Jarrell, Texas

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An unidentified couple watches as volunteers and rescue workers dig through the debris of a recycling facility in Jarrell, Texas. The plant was destroyed by a tornado on May 27, 1997. © Temple Daily Telegram/Matthew Crawley

An unidentified couple watches as volunteers and rescue workers dig through the debris of a recycling facility in Jarrell, Texas. The plant was destroyed by a tornado on May 27, 1997. © Temple Daily Telegram/Matthew Crawley

[F]ourteen years ago today, at approximately 3:45pm, at F5 tornado hit the Double Creek Estates in Jarrell, Texas. At the time, I was about a mile or so to the northeast on the frontage road of I-35 watching the backside of the incredibly dark storm. About an hour and a half later, I took the photo above of an unidentified couple watching rescuers digging through the debris.  Beside being in the paper I worked for, the photo moved on the Associated Press wire service and was featured in a number of papers as well as the front page of MSNBC.com.

The storm killed 27 in that small community, including one entire family.  I remember the victims and often pray for their friends and family each time I hear of a tornado such as Joplin.

I had hoped to visit Jarrell today but events kept me from doing so.  I have never written publicly about my experiences of that day.  Look for a post detailing that day which will include photos that have never been published.

Matthew