Boston Fire Department Photographer and Biographer
By: Erich J. Roden
Most firefighters would agree that there can never be enough photos taken of the fire service. The visual spectacle that is the urban fireground is full of actions that demonstrate the bravery and tragedy firefighters perpetually face. It is when these actions are discovered as captured images that they become iconic.
There are many photographers in the fire service who are demonstrably shaping the urban fire service through photographs. One photographer who is as iconic as the photos he has produced is the Boston Fire Department’s (BFD) Bill Noonan. Urban Firefighter Magazine was lucky enough to ask Bill about his work, get his advice, and find out what he has in mind for the future.
Bill grew up in Orange, Massachusetts, and he always carried a camera, like his father, when the BFD went to fires. He describes his early indoctrination into fire service photography as an attempt to document everything about Boston’s fire department, particularly its firefighters. Thirty-nine years later, he still loves capturing every moment of the BFD and has excellent advice for current and aspiring fireground photographers.
“You gotta keep snapping…never be in a hurry to leave,” Bill says. “Some of the best photos are after– the group photos, the dirty faces…”
Bill doesn’t have that one favorite shot, but he humbly states that he has 10,000 tied for first place. When asked what he looks for in a photo, Bill notes that getting firefighters themselves in the photo, or at least the apparatus, ensures that something is actually going on in the photo.
A lot has changed in the fire service since Bill began chronicling it. He mentions that the gear has changed and that apparatus are getting too big. He adds, “the young guys don’t seem to be getting the fire experience we had, fires every night, plenty of action.”
Ensuring the younger generations of firefighters never forget who came before them, Bill has published four books on Boston area firefighters: Smoke Showin (1984) published by Addison C. Getchell & Sons, Inc., Jakes Under Fire (1997), Wooden Sticks and Iron Men (2000), and Flames and Faces (2004); published by DMC Associates Books.
When Bill is not taking photos at a Boston area fire, he can be found spending time with his wife and girls, reading history, working on a forthcoming website, and contemplating retirement. Let’s hope that’s not anytime soon. For those who hope to follow in Bill’s footsteps, heed some of his closing advice for photographing fires: “Stay out of the way, don’t be a pain in the ass, don’t get close, and don’t be in a hurry to leave the scene.”
