News

FDNY Hires First Photo Editor to Organize 1M Photos

Huey Freeman

08/16/2015

Aug. 16--DECATUR -- Katy Clements is back on the streets of New York.

Clements, whose first job with the New York Fire Department was working on an ambulance as an emergency medical technician, recently became a photographer and photo editor for the department.

"I love photography," Clements, a Decatur native, said in a phone interview. "My mother was a watercolor painter. I had a good eye growing up as an artist's daughter."

Clements, 51, who moved up the ladder from EMT to executive assistant to the fire commissioner during her 15 years with one of the world's high-profile firefighting forces, decided last year that she needed to get out of the office.

When her longtime boss, Salvatore Cassano, was about to retire as commissioner in 2014, Clements went to the media services department to ask if they had any open positions.

She was told they needed someone to organize the department's photo archives, more than 1 million images. However, there had not been a position created to tackle that task.

When Clements talked with Cassano on the subject, he agreed that a photo editor position was needed.

"Before he retired, he created that position," Clements said, adding that he helped her land a job that she loves.

Clements, who began with the department Sept. 11, 2000, as administrative assistant to chief of operations, worked for Cassano from the day he took that job after the 9/11 terrorist attacks the following year. She stayed with him as he advanced to fire chief and commissioner, the department's top two positions.

Fire Chief Peter Ganci, who recommended Clements for advancement from EMT to a position with the command staff, died on 9/11 when the World Trade Center North Tower collapsed. He was one of 343 firefighters who died that day, including many of Clements' friends.

Clements said firefighters feel the impact today in everything they do, including training and how scenes are assessed and commanded.

"Another impact of 9/11 is how the department deals with families who have died from duty-related illnesses or injuries," Clements said. "There is a whole unit now dedicated to helping the families of any department member that dies. That unit didn't exist before 9/11."

Clements, who credits her parents with instilling her strong work ethic, is one of the department's three full-time photographers. She shoots firefighters battling blazes, as well as promotions, graduations and other department ceremonies.

"Theres always something going on," Clements said, adding that for big incidents, a photographer is assigned to ride to the scene with emergency lights and sirens along with a public information officer.

A photo she shot of a blaze in a five-story building in lower Manhattan on March 26 made the cover of an issue of With New York Firefighters, a trade publication Clements had been enjoying for years.

Clements is also called on to photograph the funerals of active duty firefighters, as well as ceremonies in which they are honored after their deaths.

"A year after they pass away, the families are invited back to the stations," Clements said, adding there have been many cases of cancer related to recovery efforts in the rubble of the World Trade Center.

"They are beautiful ceremonies, with plaques posted at the firefighters' workplaces, so their loved ones will always will be remembered," Clements said. "I take photographs of the ceremonies for the family, in case they want to have those photos. It is an emotional event and very meaningful for the families."

Parades and a motorcade

Her recent assignments have included shooting the victory parade for the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team, after it won the World Cup on July 5, and a parade to celebrate the department's 150th anniversary.

"The parades are great to photograph because of the consistently warm reception from the crowd to the department members," Clements said. "The members march to engage with the community, and the community loves it. For me, there is a lot of walking backwards to capture our members walking the parade route. It's a lot of work, but fun work."

She also drove and rode in one of the FDNY vehicles in a motorcade from New York to the National Museum of the U.S. Marine Corps, Quantico, Va., to present steel from the wreckage of the World Trade Center as part of a 9/11 memorial at the museum.

"There were about 500 motorcycles in the caravan," Clements said. "We rode alongside the flatbed truck carrying the steel. I videotaped, as fire companies saluted from every overpass in the city limits. The grounds of the Marine museum are gorgeous."

As if there was not enough on her plate, last fall she was asked to take on the task of serving as photo editor for a book, "FDNY 150, Celebrating the Past, Present and Future."

The 96-page volume, published by the FDNY Foundation, contains hundreds of photos and stories tracking the department's illustrious history.

The book points out that the worse loss of life of city firefighters before the 9/11 tragedy occurred in 1996, when 12 firefighters perished in a building collapse.

Clements found vintage photographs for the book, including one of firefighters shooting streams of water into the Triangle Shirtwaist Co. building in 1911, a blaze in which 146 people lost their lives, mostly young female factory employees. This tragedy led to law changes nationwide regarding fire safety at workplaces.

A photograph of 32 women at the FDNY Fire Academy, taken in 1982, shows members of the first class of female firefighters to be sworn in by the department. Another photograph pertinent to Clements' career shows EMS and fire department officers conversing at a fire scene shortly after the department took over ambulance operations in 1996.

The man who oversaw that merge of services 19 years ago was Daniel Nigro, Clements' first boss in 2000, when he was chief of operations. He has served as the city's fire commissioner since 2014. Ganci, Nigro's close friend, recommended Clements for her original office position after hearing her deliver a moving speech about her recently deceased mother at her Emergency Medical Technician Academy graduation ceremony.

Nigro wrote the introduction to "FDNY 150," in which he says his great-great-grandfather served as a volunteer firefighter in Greenwich Village at the time the first paid department in the city was established in 1865. Nigro's father joined the department at the end of World War II.

"The book was a fascinating project," Clements said. "To view so many amazing photos of the department's history was quite an honor. It gave me a sense that even with all the technological advances, firefighting is still about brave people moving towards danger and difficulty to help other people."

During her years of working with the command staff, which brought her into contact with media services, Clements thought the photographers/videographers "had the best gig in the world."

"I just wanted to work in that environment. It's a real creative bunch of people. That seemed so appealing to me, " said Clements, who moved to New York in 1986 to test her skills as a musician. "One of the great things about the job is being out from behind the desk. The other part is being at the desk organizing the archive.

"A perfect balance. It's nice to have a balance of really active work and sit-down, focused work."

hfreeman@herald-review.com|(217) 421-6985