Fire in Kiev on Front Page of the Washington Post

The Washington Post published an article about a fuel depot fire in Vasil’kiv Kiev oblast with a photo by Roman Pilipei, a Ukrainian photographer from the European Pressphoto Agency, on the front cover.

Bird in Flight talked to the photographer about the image:

“I took this photo on June 9th, the day after the fire at the fuel depot near Kiev started. That was the day when we understood the real scale of the accident. I went in the morning with other journalists and tried to get as close as possible. By accident I went farther than the others. I looked back and realized that there was nobody except me, two other photographers and the firefighters. All the journalists were driven out of the place, but somehow the firefighters did not notice us.

I photographed the scene I saw – a burned fire engine, and tired firefighters. This image symbolized all the despair and frustration the firefighters felt while trying to control the fire in spite of the fact that they did everything possible and more. They risked a lot and gave everything they had.

In a moment I heard a loud whiff from the side of the fuel depot and thought that it was going to explode. Luckily that did not happen. When I took the photo I was covered with soot. It reminded me the days of Maidan,” said Pilipei.