Satchel’s Pizza Catches Fire, Re-opens in Three Days
Dec. 5, 2016: The Day of the Fire
The fire was controlled within 10 minutes of Gainesville Fire Rescue arriving on the scene. I headed over to the site as soon as I heard the news.
Upon arrival, I spoke with the Gainesville Fire Rescue deputy fire chief JoAnne Rice and witnesses across the street. One of the witnesses gave me these pictures:
The deputy fire chief then took the media behind the building to see the damage. I live-streamed this first look at the scene on Periscope:
I continuted to ask questions and get details on the extent of the damage.
To wrap up the night, I tweeted a few more pictures from the fire scene and promised my followers more information was to come.
One of my pictures and the story I assisted with appeared on the front page of the Independent Florida Alligator the next day.
Dec. 6, 2016: Press Conference & Interview with Satchel Raye
Early Tuesday morning, Raye posted a long statement on Facebook with his plan for the restaurant moving forward. Aware that many people no longer use Facebook, I tweeted the important details.
The press conference was held at Satchel’s pizza.
As Raye answered questions, I continued to tweet out information.
When Deputy Fire Chief JoAnne Rice began fielding questions, I live-streamed her replies on Periscope to instantly update my followers.
As usual, I tweeted a mini-photo gallery and some other relevant pictures before I left the scene.
Dec. 8, 2016: Re-opening of Satchel’s Pizza
As Raye had hoped, he was able to reopen Satchel’s Pizza Friday morning. This time, I took a TV camera and produced a short news piece that I fronted from the newsroom on the 5pm newscast. Here’s the final product:
