Everyone knows the FurFest chlorine story – but did you see Tommy Bruce’s documentary blog?
by Patch O'Furr
Midwest FurFest was hit by poisonous gas. I rushed out a short notice, and had tips sent in by friends like Mordi. Soon, the news was everywhere.
It's the biggest wealth of #furrynews for the worst reason this week... yeah I won't even attempt to wade into this. http://t.co/BSYfXigbX2
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) December 9, 2014
I felt like the topic was exhaustively covered.
My #furrynews blog is for less-covered stuff anyways. Try CNN for #MWFF hazmat failsplosion news 🙂
— Dogpatch Press (@DogpatchPress) December 9, 2014
I couldn’t add a lot that wasn’t said, but for fan perspective, try Flayrah: Midwest FurFest hotel evacuated after ‘intentional’ chlorine release; 19 hospitalized.
The event resulted in the #mwff2014 hashtag trending on Twitter, and a 2500-comment post on Reddit.
It was said to be THE top hashtag on Twitter, at the story’s height. (There may be a silver lining from this – a crop of new fans.)
My restraint about overdoing the story was overcome by a tip. (Tips are amazingly useful. I’m so happy that some people remembered!) It came from a furry photo documentary artist who was there, Tommy Bruce. Consider him one of the eyes of a self-aware subculture.
Tommy was in my post, Five pro photographers advancing the art of furry documentary. I labeled his signature approach as Intimacy.
Read his story in his own words. (It has a few photos that you probably won’t see in the news!) I especially liked this quote about the surprise hotel evacuation:
A friend said it felt like “seeing the convention through x-ray glasses”, where you could view in plain sight what was going on in each private room.
The Chlorine Powder Scare at Midwest Furfest 2014.
