Breaking News

Helen reports from the studio, never realizing her husband is involved in this case

 

Breaking News

 

 

“Helen!” Gloria called. “We need you on the air now! We’ve got a breaking story and we are first in!”

Helen quickly got up from her desk and headed to the news room. Several other reporters were already taking up their positions and Gloria handed Helen her initial copy.

“We go live in 3, 2 on the air” the news director said.

“We apologize for interrupting your regular programming.   We have a news crew on the scene of a bizarre accident on Highway 288” 

“Our news crew actually witnessed this accident and made the 911 call the get emergency crews on their way to this incident” Helen read from her copy.

The live feed began to come over the air into the control room. The news director was impressed with the proximity of the news crew to the scene of the accident. They were almost directly overhead and had in essence, front row seats from which to record and report this story.

As the footage was being shown, Helen was aware of the buzz of conversation in her earpiece. She was having trouble understanding who was on the remote side of the story.

Marco had been working on his upcoming promo and was in the dark when the story first aired. He was now attempting to take more control over the situation as Helen was working the story in her normal calm professional manner.

“We can now switch you to a live shot from the scene of this single vehicle accident.”

“We have audio feed” Marco said over her earpiece.

“Marco, let her run it” the news director said tersely. “She’s our ace, so give her the ball.”

“Helen, this scene here is almost indescribable” the intern reported. “We have reports police are unable at this time to determine how many patients were in this vehicle. We tried to determine if there had been any foul play involved and we were given no comment from Brazoria County Police.”

“What’s her name” Helen asked quickly off air. The teleprompter was not up to speed yet, so she was still playing most of her reporting by ear.

“Aurora?” Marco asked. 

“No, that’s Jess, the intern” Gloria said. “I’m sure Helen, go with it.”

“Who’s running this show?” Marco demanded. 

“Marco, get off the loop” the news director ordered. “They have it covered.”

The camera switched back to the studio and went full face on Helen.

“Jess? Jess? Jess, if you can still hear us from the studio, can you tell us if medics have been dispatched to this scene?”

“Helen, I can hear you. We actually made the initial 911 call to report this accident. That was about 2-3 minutes ago. We can now see and hear the emergency vehicles approaching at this time. The first vehicle appears to be an ambulance.”

“Jess, NewsAir 1 is in your area” Helen informed her intern. “Have you been able to contact them?”

“Yes, we made contact with them right after we made the 911 call. They should be overhead shortly to give us our aerial feed.”

“Nice going, Jess. Have the medics begun to treat any of the patients?”

“They have located two patients at this time. It looks like one is in really bad condition. Helen, I’m going to try to describe to you what we are seeing here. Both medics are working on two different patients at this time. Other rescue workers are pitching in to help, but we understand from our police radio that there’s considerable confusion over the number of patients who may have been injured in this accident.”

“We also understand that there has been some sort of miscommunication concerning an additional medical unit. We overheard one communication in which a second ambulance was dispatched, but no more ambulances have arrived.”

“Have you been able to talk to any of the rescuers yet Jess?”

“Helen, I tried to get close to the rescuers at the scene, but the police have told us we have to maintain our position on this over pass.”

            “Jess, are the rescuers in any sort of danger themselves?”

            “All I can report on that is the medics are wearing their normal protective gear. The concern for them at this point is locating all the patients and getting enough ambulances here to care for them all. Right now, they have treated and stabilized two patients, but they can not leave this scene until they locate all the patients.”

            NewsAir 1 was providing a wider shot of the scene and had focused on a female patient and a medic trying to treat her.      

            “Oh my God! Helen, if they caught the feed from the air, did you see that last patient?”

            “Yes, Jess. We are airing that footage now. Do you have any information about any other ambulances?”

            “Nothing yet, but we understand that the medic in charge of this scene has just ordered a “blind call” for any available medical unit.”