|

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.

For instance, a cold storage warehouse burns and four firemen are
overcome by the fumes from the ammonia pipes. Next door is a hospital
and the flames frighten the patients almost into a panic. Either one of
these incidents is worth the first line of the story. But which one is
of the greater importance? Naturally the element of danger to human life
must be considered first and the actual disabling of four firemen is of
greater significance than a possible panic in the hospital. Following
that line of logic our story would begin:

| Four firemen were overcome by ammonia |
|fumes and a panic in the St. Charles |
|Hospital was narrowly averted, as a |
|result of a fire which destroyed the cold|
|storage warehouse of, etc. |

Such a lead would not be too complicated for practical purposes. But
suppose that around the corner from the cold storage warehouse is a
livery in which fifty horses are stabled. The flames frighten the horses
and they break loose and stampede in the streets. The story now has
three features of striking interest. It would be possible to combine
them all in the lead and to begin in this way:

| Four firemen were overcome by ammon