Getting back to our roots. Revisiting Durham’s Gregson Street Guillotine.

Previous Gregson Street coverage including StreetView tour

Watch profile of photographer Jurgen Henn

Read more about Henn

11foot8.com

Just because we have gone to a fancier site doesn’t mean our tastes and news sense have gotten all highbrow on you. No, it is just the opposite. As we promised a few days ago, the content of this site will be as lame as it always has been, with little socially redeeming value (as least that’s what some of the critics tell me).

Actually it has been a while since we visited the Gregson Street railroad bridge in Durham, North Carolina. In fact it has been so long (I think March of this year) it might be a fair criticism to say that STATter911.com has drifted away from its core mission. As a card carrying member of the mainstream media it is my duty and obligation to bring mindless junk to the masses. (Didn’t I read somewhere very recently that you shouldn’t let yourself be romanced by intruders into the fire service’s new media by us mainstream folks? Whatever that means, I agree with it.)

We get back into the low hanging bridge, that seems to always take a little off the top of box trucks, in a very special way. This may well be the most spectacular crash we have seen since first presenting a Gregson Street video in May of 2008.

Since we started carrying the videos, the man behind this documentation of how so many people can ignore big warning signs and flashing lights,  Jurgen Henn, has come out from behind the lens. Thanks to our Carolina friend Mike Legeros, we became aware of some mainstream media profiles of Henn (see links above). Henn has also started his own web site, 11foot8.com. He also added a second camera.

Looking at 11foot8.com, it is clear that Mr. Henn’s site will not lack for material. His headline is “13 crashes in 13 months”. Henn also reports that the crash barrier set up in front of the bridge to protect the structure has already been replaced once. We need to add this one to our links. Better yet, maybe I can convince the powers that be to include 11foot8.com in our new FireEMSBlogs.com network. While it may not be fire or EMS related (though it could be), it has to be a hell of a lot more interesting than what that STATter911.com has to offer.

Also on STATter911 …

• Must see video: It ain’t all bad out there Statter. Look how this police officer handles one man armed with a camera & a gun! Plus, charges to be dropped against man with camera in Suffolk County, New York & internal investigation back after Las Vegas citizen photographer beaten. – August 2, 2011
• Must see video: Determined Detroit firefighter makes roof despite fall from ladder & almost losing it on the second attempt. – August 12, 2011
• UPDATE – Early raw video: Four-alarm fire heavily damages Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. – May 2, 2012
• Tyler Perry Studios fire: What it looked like on the inside as four-alarm fire burned. – May 2, 2012