Overdramatic writing in local small town newspapers
Posted: Sun Aug 29, 2021 10:17 am
A couple days ago in my small hometown in Northern California, a fire came close to taking out a significant portion of town. In the article the local newspaper put out about it, the author seemed to be over dramatic in his descriptions of the days events. Which of these paragraphs DID NOT appear in the article?
1. Under smoke-choked blood red and orange tinted afternoon skies, with ash raining down from torching trees and 30-foot flame lengths at times, (town) police officers and a lieutenant urged residents in the (street) neighborhood to get out immediately before 3 p.m.
2. Near the end of (street), the advancing blaze threw up duplex condo-sized flames, hissing, heaving and roaring at times like a hungry beast. Pilots in tanker planes and helicopters worked close to the advancing flames and smoke, often disappearing from view in the black and gray clouds of soot, ash and debris boiling off the fire.
3. In the 300 block of (avenue), a 35 year-old woman in distress, surrounded in her home on all sides by the menacing flames, called for help on her cell phone. An engine crew arrived post-haste and beat back the flames with their hoses. One of the crew rescued the woman as her home burst into a towering inferno, carrying her out on his back as the water tender ran out of water, his hose running dry.
4. Cal Fire and Forest Service personnel in separate vehicles waited for the flames to subside, then drive on through. As of 3:45 p.m. the sounds of chainsaws were audible further south above the crackling fire. Pilots continued dropping red retardant and slurries of water closer and closer to a fuel-free vantage point.
5. A man in a silver car drove near the flames and turned around before reaching a dip in the road where an oven of flames on both sides of the road glowed red.
1. Under smoke-choked blood red and orange tinted afternoon skies, with ash raining down from torching trees and 30-foot flame lengths at times, (town) police officers and a lieutenant urged residents in the (street) neighborhood to get out immediately before 3 p.m.
2. Near the end of (street), the advancing blaze threw up duplex condo-sized flames, hissing, heaving and roaring at times like a hungry beast. Pilots in tanker planes and helicopters worked close to the advancing flames and smoke, often disappearing from view in the black and gray clouds of soot, ash and debris boiling off the fire.
3. In the 300 block of (avenue), a 35 year-old woman in distress, surrounded in her home on all sides by the menacing flames, called for help on her cell phone. An engine crew arrived post-haste and beat back the flames with their hoses. One of the crew rescued the woman as her home burst into a towering inferno, carrying her out on his back as the water tender ran out of water, his hose running dry.
4. Cal Fire and Forest Service personnel in separate vehicles waited for the flames to subside, then drive on through. As of 3:45 p.m. the sounds of chainsaws were audible further south above the crackling fire. Pilots continued dropping red retardant and slurries of water closer and closer to a fuel-free vantage point.
5. A man in a silver car drove near the flames and turned around before reaching a dip in the road where an oven of flames on both sides of the road glowed red.
