=7. Miscellaneous.=--There is an infinite number of things that may happen at a fire and overshadow the mere fire interest. These are the things that make one fire different from another, and whenever they are of sufficient importance they become the feature to be played up in the first line of the introduction. It would be impossible to enumerate all the unexpected things that might happen during a fire. It is this element of unexpected possibilities that makes the reporting of fires interesting, and an alert reporter is ever on the lookout for a new and unusual development in the fire to be used as the feature of his story. Here are the leads of a few fire stories clipped from the daily newspapers:
| With her home on fire and the smoke | |swirling around her head, Mrs. B. B. | |Blank, a well-known leader of the | |social set of Roland Park, bravely | |stood by her telephone and called upon | |the Roland Park Fire Company for aid | |shortly after 8 o'clock this | |morning.--_Baltimore Star._ | | | | Four charming young women attired in | |masculine apparel were the unexpected | |and embarrassed hosts of four companies | |of fire department "laddies" last night, | |when fire broke out, etc.--_Milwaukee | |Free Press._ | | | | For the first time since its | |installation the high-pressure water | |power system was relied upon solely last | |night to fight a Broadway fire, and | |Chief Croker said that he was well | |satisfied with its work. The fire began | |on the third floor of the six-story, | |etc.--_New York Times._ |
C. FIRE STORIES WITH MORE THAN ONE FEATURE
It would appear from the foregoing examples that almost every fire story has a feature. And so it usually has. The great majority of fires that are worth reporting at all have some unusual incident connected with them that overshadows the mere fire itself. Sometimes the features are not of great significance, but it is only as a last resort that a reporter begins his story with "Fire"--only when the most ordinary of fires is to be covered.
Unusual features are so common in connection with fires that very often a single fire has more than one unusual feature. Perhaps the cause of the fire is exceptionally striking and at the same time the amount of property destroyed is of great news value in itself. Or the time and some unexpected attendant circumstance are both worth the first place. In that case the reporter has to choose between the two features and begin with the one that seems to him to be the more striking. The other feature or features may often be arranged in the order of importance immediately after the most striking fact at the beginning, provided that this does not make the lead unduly complicated.