This is why I became a reporter

It’s been a busy week around here, but it’s been ultimately satisfying.
If you are reading this, I’m sure you’ve already seen our exclusive Web coverage of “The Fire,” or possibly read about it in the May 8 print edition.
An incident like the Chelsea Shopping Center fire doesn’t happen very often – thank the gracious Lord – but it reminded me of why I got into this crazy business in the first place, and why I’ve been crazy enough to stick with it for so long.
I’ve covered a number of fires during my career, but none like the one I witnessed Monday.
Never in more than 16 years have I seen a place that, by all rights, should be a smoldering pile of charred rubble.
Journalists like to say that they’ve seen everything, that nothing bothers them.
I’m not one of those guys. I broke a few rules by getting too close to the smoke trying to get photos, and spent the rest of the day coughing my lungs out.
And I still haven’t told my wife about the hole burned in one of my best shirts from flying embers. Let’s just keep that between us,OK?
Watching the flames race across the roof of the strip mall from Pamida to the Chelsea Grille in a matter of minutes was stunning.
Seeing two Chelsea firefighters come within three seconds of being crushed by the collapse of the brick façade in front of Hicks Cleaners and Aleko’s Carryout was frightening.
Learning that no one was injured in the blaze was gratifying.
Being asked by fire officials to share our photos and video to assist in the investigation was rewarding.
I wish all the luck in the world to the merchants affected by the fire, and hope they can be back in business as quickly as possible.
As strange as it might sound, the fire was a big help to me.
Over the past several weeks I was getting more and more frustrated with things around here, much of which is out of my hands anyway.
I was losing my focus and committing a string of silly bush-league errors, and se-riously questioning my career choice.
I even scheduled some time off for later this week just so I could get the hell away from here.
But when that fire alarm came over the scanner at 12:46 p.m. May 5, all of that nonsense evaporated and I immediately reverted to the professional that I am ca-pable of being.
Now I can take a few days off and truly relax. Just don’t let the town burn down while I’m gone.