Saturday, June 9, 2018

Andy's Angles and First Person: Fernwood

I am usually up well before my alarm, so that gives me a chance to check my email and WNEP.com, so I'm off and running as soon as I get to the office.  I woke up late Sunday night to the news that one of the big buildings at the old Fernwood resort, in Middle Smithfield Township was burning.
I arrived at the office just as photographer Greg returned from the scene.  I looked at the video, listened to a fire chief interview, and banged out two versions of the story for Newswatch 16 This Morning.  Photographer Erich arrived.  He loaded up a truck and we headed to Monroe County.

By the way, the amount of traffic on the roads of Monroe County, even at 3:30 am, is astounding.

Erich found a safe place to park the truck, lit the scene, and we were off and running.

After the braodcast, we found a couple of former Fernwood employees and a third person who remembered Fernwood's glory days.  We were supposed to meet up with a fourth person, but time was not our friend.  We waited as long as we could, but we had to head back to the office.  Apologies.

As I listened to the interviews and picked out segments, Erich found old video of a Fernwood boxing match.  It was in the building that burned, and it added quite a bit to the piece.  Script written, approved, and edited.  Friend and co-worker Carmella Mataloni would wrap around my piece at noon, with the latest information.

It was a good mix.  Carmella had the latest facts.  I had the "people piece."  Everything worked out nicely.

More on Fernwood tomorrow.