PHOTOS: At 2:30 in the morning on his 20th birthday, Glen Ellman was on his way home from an event when he noticed a row house on fire. Then a photojournalism student at Syracuse University, Ellman pulled over, took out his camera and started taking pictures.
He noticed the fire departmentโs response was steady at first, but became frantic as one firefighter and then another was pulled out of the house. Four firefighters lost their lives that night in 1978, and Ellman was the only person who captured images from the tragedy that sent shockwaves through the city.
โFrom there, I was never unemployed. I never really had to go look for a job my whole life, and I always remembered where I came from,โ he said. โI was always going to pay it back and pay it forward to the guys. Iโve been doing it ever since.โ
After nearly two decades working in journalism, including a little over a dozen years as chief photographer at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Ellman was recruited to join the Fort Worth Fire Department in 2002. Former Chief H. Larry McMillen advocated for Ellman to be hired before he left the department in 2002 after 22 years of service. โI wanted this community to know what was going on in the fire department,โ McMillen said. โAnd thereโs really no better way to do that than through photography.โ
Ellmanโs photos were invaluable, according to the longest-tenured fire chief in the cityโs history. โIโd show up at major fires, and I could get there pretty quick, but I (donโt) recall that I was there before Glen was there,โ McMillen said. โHe was like one of the firefighters. โฆ Outfitting him with firefighting gear made a big difference โ when he would wear it.โย
Jim Tidwell, former fire marshal, executive deputy chief and interim fire chief at the department, concurred. Every time a photograph appeared in the newspaper, it was a plus for the departmentโs image โ as well as its morale.
