A "blaze" in Southern California (hehe)

Today went much better than I thought it would. I was seriously freaking out about anchoring. I had only been a reporter up to this point, so I was extremely nervous about doing an entire newscast in one shot and, having never been around at the beginning of the day due to my consistent history of taking forever to get my story and running into the classroom last minute, I really hadn't seen what anchors did before 3:00. Matt was a serious life saver today.

I'm the first to admit I got really lucky when I was able to get a phoner with Captain Mike Brown with the Los Angeles County Fire Department on my first attempt. It was a really easy interview, too. I only asked him a few questions, and he just kept talking, so I was able to get six minutes of SOT from him.

I think I found a really good bite to use in my story. When Justin Pizzi came to talk to our class, he said to get an emotional sound bite. So when I was reviewing the phoner, I found something that had less to do with the facts of the fire, and more to do with a human aspect. Plus, I think it was interesting, because it was about more than just the people who were evacuated, like the stories I've been seeing on the news.

I think one thing that was interesting that didn't fit in my story was that the fire department had recieved warning days prior to the fires that it was perfect conditions for wildfire: strong wind, low humidity, and high heat. Brown said they were most surpised by the amount of fires that started, and how quickly they spread.