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.

I felt like the topic was exhaustively covered.

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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.

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