Helmet on a Tree - Part of the “Firefighters on the Hills” series.

            File: 2021001-0017

Somewhere around the Worcestershire Beacon, Malvern Hills, Great Malvern, Worcestershire, England, United Kingdom. Date unknown, likely to be in the Summer, circa 1985 to circa 1995.
 
About this photograph.

This is a 1980s/1990s British firefighter’s helmet, hanging on a tree branch, most likely by one of the firefighters taking a short quick break. 

Only one side of a single hill was on fire, it was not an extreme inferno, but simply a very large patch of fire coving maybe the size of two football fields, on one side of the slope. The weather was summer hot, but not a heatwave.

They were able to get the wildfire under control within a matter of hours, not days like the ones in California or Spain which were way much larger. By this point, only a few firefighters were still spraying water on the grass and trees to keep them under control, while other the other guys were taking quick breaks, or regrouping.

I spotted this helmet on the tree, and took the shot with my Minolta X-700 35mm film SLR camera.

The badge on the front of this helmet is the County of Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigade, which was established in 1974. Even when the county of Herefordshire and the county of Worcestershire split up in 1998, the fire brigade continue to operate as a joint fire authority, now operating under the name of Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (HWFRS).

I am unable to remember the date, let alone the year, as I have lost my notes, but I know it had to be sometime between 1985 to 1995, during the summer. This is because 1985 is the year I got my X-700 and 1996 is the year I moved to a new home (explained below).
 
About the event.

At that time, I lived with my parent in a top floor apartment, with a view to the Worcestershire Beacon, and it was this part of the area that was on fire. This is how I decided to grab my camera and head up to the hills to try some photojournalism-style photography.

In those days, health and safety rules were a bit lax, there were people still going for walks up and down the hills even when the firefighters were trying to get the fire under control.

There weren’t any police officers trying to get people off the hills, and the civilians were simply going for a walk, this was why I was able to freely move around and try to take some shots of the firefighters.

The colour film was either Kodak  which tend to be my first preferred choice, or Agfa which is my secondary choice in case whichever shops I go to, haven’t got any Kodak brand films or ran out. (I never buy supermarket brand films.)

The shots were sent off for developing and printing, as I only develop and print my own black and white photos.

About 30 years later, the prints were scanned to the computer, using a Brother A3 multi-function printer/copier/scanner/fax machine, so I could upload them to my Flickr Photostream.
 
The Comment Box for my photo is NOT an advertising billboard for any Groups. You are free to comment about the subject of my photographs, but not adverting the groups. Canned Comments will be deleted.

Taken in: UK / England / Malvern Hills District / West Malvern (show map)

Taken on: April 15, 2021

Tags:

Minolta

Minolta X-700

35mm

35mm film

35mm SLR

Film

Film SLR

SLR

Manual

Manual focus

Outdoors

Outdoor photography

Colour

Analog

Daylight

Daytime

Prints

Scan

Scanned

Scanned photo

Firefighters

Firefighters on the Hills

Worcestershire Beacon

Malvern

Malvern Hills

Worcestershire

Midlands

England

United Kingdom

Britain

Great Britain

Photojournalism

Journalism

Report

Reporting

Reportage

News

News event

Event

History

Fireman

Fire Brigade

Fire Department

Hereford & Worcester

Yellow

Helmet

Badge

Hanging

Tree

Branch

Hot

Hot weather

Sunny

Summer

Summer weather

Wildfire

Grassland fire

Hill

Hills

Trees

Woods

Nature

Green

Brown

Leaves

Branches

Hat « less

Sets appears in: • Firefighters on the Hills • Minolta X-700

Groups appears in: • 100 Views • Views: 1000 more » • minimum 500 views • minimum 700 views • minimum 250 views • 100 Views Unlimited • 200 Views Unlimited • 500 Views Unlimited • 300 Views Unlimited • 400 Views Unlimited • 800 Views Unlimited • 600 Views Unlimited • 700 Views Unlimited • 500 views at least (NO LIMITS, NO 30/60) • 300 views at least (NO LIMITS, NO 30/60) • 400 views at least (NO LIMITS, NO 30/60) • 200 views at least (NO LIMITS, NO 30/60) « less

Stats: 1,419 views / 29 comments