5th Alarm Fire Razes a Squatter Town

"Carry a camera at all times."

I know I read that advice to carry a camera from some British amateur photography magazine back in the late 1960s, and I have tried to follow it most of my life. Certainly, carrying a camera with me often has rewarded me with some great news photographs over the years.

I usually don't bother nowadays, because news editors in Sydney really don't care a fig about getting a good photo... and even less if they are expected (gasp, cough!) to pay someone for it. But 30 years ago, and outside of Australia, news photos were still worth money and I always carried a camera back then.

I had been enjoying a cool San Miguel beer with Welsh-born police inspector friend, Jaime Gill, at the HK Police Recreation Club in Happy Valley near the Jockey Club race track. He was duty officer for the day, even when off-duty.

Jaime's radio pager went off and phoned the police control room. Then he came back and told me about the fire. Remember, these were the days before cellphones. A radio pager or beeper was cutting edge technology back then!

When I arrived at the fire scene I witnessed tragedy and drama on a large scale. This was a 5th Alarm fire, and fire fighters were being called in from every corner of the (then) British Crown Colony ... from Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, and even from the New Territories up near the border with China.

In more than 20 years as a newsman, I have only seen two 5th alarm fires with my own eyes. Even to seasoned eyes, a 5th Alarm fire is awesome. It is also murderous, destructive and very hard to bring under control. It takes many hundreds of firefighters and many scores of fire appliances.

Hundreds of wood and tin squatter huts (shanty-town shacks) were destroyed in this blaze, and some thousands of people lost their homes and their means to earn a living. The social services offered back then were almost non-existent. You worked or you starved. And nobody gave you shelter unless you could pay for it. (That's why the tax rate in Hongkong was so low back then. It used to be 17% maximum.)

Young men desparately grabbed fire hoses out right of the firemens' hands and helped pull the hoses into better position to fight the flames. Sometimes they pushed and pulled the firefighters also!

Some of my best shots were taken on the corrugated iron roof of a large boat-building shed (see photo above).

These shots were taken with a German-made Rollei-35 pocket 35mm camera and Tri-X film. Which only goes to prove that you don't have to use a fancy SLR camera to get good news pictures. Just carry a camera with you and be willing to use it.