Pleasant View, Utah, September 23, 2015 (Newswire.com) - James Greene was on a short vacation with his family when he received a call no one wants to hear. Their house was on fire. As they raced home to their nightmare, thoughts of all their possessions came to mind, but none more than those that couldn’t be replaced or repaired. They grew very concerned over the safety of their family’s film. As they anxiously pulled up to their burning home, they saw boxes sitting on their driveway. As they got closer they saw that those boxes were the ones holding nearly 20,000 sentimental slides. Upon trying to rid of the scorching flames, one of the firefighters saw the boxes labeled, “Family Photos” and immediately knew they needed to be saved. She quickly called for backup, and due to her gut reaction, those photos still exist, and not only that- but they have since been digitized and preserved for generations to come.
Jim Greene said in recalling the moment, “Naturally I was at first completely relieved, but then I soon realized that I have received a blessing and I shouldn’t waste it. I had started scanning the slides myself, but it was going very slowly because I just could not dedicate more than a few minutes at a time. I figured it would take me 10 years to finish. I could not let this valuable treasure sit for that long. That is when I contacted Larsen Digital.”
"As we raced home, and my mind mentally went through the inventory of all our things, I realized that my dad's pictures were the only irreplaceable item… The thought that kept going through my mind was, 'What if I've lost my father twice in one year.'"
James Greene
What makes the story that much sweeter is the fact that James’ father, who always had a camera around his neck, had passed away prior to the fire. Jim took on the task of caring for those memories and remnants of his father’s legacy, not knowing what tragedy awaited them. He said, “As we raced home, and my mind mentally went through the inventory of all our things, I realized that my dad’s pictures were the only irreplaceable item… The thought that kept going through my mind was, ‘What if I’ve lost my father twice in one year.’”
One year later, almost to the day, James lost his mother as well, but he would never lose the memory of either of his parents, because the photographic memories of them had been immortalized, having been scanned and preserved for lifetimes.
Did you know that in 2013 a fire department responded to a home structure fire every 85 seconds? That during that particular year there were more than 1.2 million fires causing over $11 billion in property damage? We don’t tend to think tragedies will occur in our homes or on our watch, but these appalling statistics from the NFPA will make you think twice.
According to the National Fire Protection Association, the number of fires your household can expect in an average lifetime is 5. Due to the high volume this statistic reports, we urge all to get your precious family memories not only converted to a digital format, but back them up on hard drives, in the cloud, or by using other methods. Your house can be rebuilt. You can purchase different cars. You can buy new clothes. What you can’t replace though, are the pictures from that Christmas in 1975, or the events surrounding the birth of your children. Protect those moments so they can withstand the test of time.
Larsen Digital specializes in scanning movie film, slides, photos, negatives, audio tapes and much more. Having been around for more than 15 years, they are the most experienced in the film conversion industry. To make sure you film is never at risk of being destroyed in a fire, visit www.slidescanning.com for more details on converting your film to digital, as well as information on keeping your digital lives safe with the cloud.
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