The Marshall Fire

On New Year’s Eve I was in the mountains on a ski trip when, during intermittent periods of cell reception, my phone began sending alerts about a wildfire that had started just outside of Boulder. As the day wore on, the alerts became more urgent, and by that evening my neighborhood was under pre-evacuation orders as The Marshall Fire quickly grew into one of the most damaging fires in Colorado’s history. After a long, sleepless night with no cell reception, and no way to receive continued updates, I made my way back to Colorado’s front range to begin covering the fire season, just 2 days into the year. Our neighborhood was spared, but covering a disaster of this scale ten minutes from my house hammered home the reality all of us in the West will live with for decades to come. This was also my first assignment incorporating a drone, and I’m really looking forward to using this new tool as a way to illustrate the complex and expansive land use & environmental issues I’m most attracted to.

Photographed for various clients, including Bloomberg and The Washington Post.

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