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Photo of Cypress County resident among Canadian Press Top Photos of 2018

Dec 31, 2018 | 2:51 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — A photo of a girl in Cypress County whose father passed away fighting a fire in 2017 is receiving year-end attention from The Canadian Press.

A photo snapped by Fred Chartrand on September 9 shows Savannah Hargrave leaning on the National Firefighter memorial wall in Ottawa during the Canadian Firefighters Memorial Service. It was highlighted as part of The Canadian Press’ Top Photos of 2018.

Hargrave’s father James died battling the Hilda wildfire on October 17, 2017.

Chartrand is retired from the Canadian Press, but still works for the organization on a freelance basis. He has covered the Canadian Firefighters Memorial Service for a decade.

“I feel it’s a very important event to cover,” he said over the phone from his home in Ottawa on Monday. “We hear about firefighters being injured or losing their lives on the job, and we don’t know really how many people it affects. It affects immediate family, daughters and sons, mothers and fathers. I tend to go to this event with that perspective.”

Prior to the ceremony, Chartrand was taking photos of families at the memorial wall, and saw the entire Hargrave family was assembled at the wall one point.

“She was standing there right beside her father’s name,” he said. “The rest of the family turned around to speak with other people, and she just was leaning on the wall, and was reflected on the shiny granite. It was very poignant to see this. I could see the emotions and feelings there for this little girl, for Savannah.

“I’m always looking for those moments whenever I do cover it, and I cover the ceremony, which can be very moving also, but usually the moments before the ceremony are the ones that are quite touching.”

After taking the photo, Chartrand says he introduced himself to the family, describing them as “nice.” He adds he took photos

Even several months after the photo was taken, Chartrand says looking at it still brings up emotions.

“Just because you’re looking through the lens, and you have this great picture, you’re still emotionally connected to it,” he said. “You’re hoping it will be conveyed through the photograph itself too, and I think gets people a time to reflect about losing someone, or seeing somebody who has lost someone. That picture in particular really did it for me that day.”

Chartrand says the Canadian Press asks photographers to submit their favourite photos for their year-end retrospectives.