THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 8, 1996 TAG: 9605080397
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: Long : 122 lines
Blue-eyed Cynthia Lima, anchoring the 6 p.m. news at WVEC-TV, is as cool as a string of pearls under the unwavering camera eye that would reduce most of us to fatuous babble.
What's more, every day for a week prior to going on air, she has been training for six hours in a crash course for firefighters.
As she climbed a swaying 110-foot ladder while carrying 40 pounds of gear or emerged from a smoke-filled building, her face dirty, mouth agape, eyes teary and hair awry, photographer Byron Burney was there to record every stagger.
In other forays, Lima has endured Navy-aviator survival training in Maine. She trained with soldiers for the Persian Gulf and reported in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Other times she has been in Kenya, Haiti and the Adriatic.
Why does she do it?
In a break Tuesday in editing three firefighting episodes that will begin airing tonight, Lima said, ``I think my husband is convinced at times I have a death wish.''
Rather, her wish is to live what others are going through.
``People are doing highly specialized things in my community about which we know little. The only way to share their story is to take a part of that walk,'' she said.
The day after two firefighters died in Chesapeake, she went to the Virginia Beach center to learn how firefighters protect themselves.
``They live under tremendous pressure, never knowing what they may face under any fire call,'' Lima said. ``They aim to maintain perfect calm amid utter chaos.
``In a burning building, you can't see, and the alarm on your tank tells you it is running out of air; but there's still a chance someone in that building needs help to get out. Firefighters manage to quell panic and do what has to be done.
``A major problem, lack of manpower, comes down to what a city can afford for staffing. If you felt what they went through, manpower wouldn't be an issue anymore.''
Born in Heidelberg, Germany, where her father was in the Army, Lima attended 10 schools ``everywhere,'' from East Providence to San Francisco, before graduating from high school.
An honors graduate from the University of Massachusetts, she realized she wanted to write.
``Writing is my best friend,'' she said.
``I loved to be able to create illusions or tell what I had seen or done. I didn't want to forget. I felt impelled to write.''
Lima entered television in 1983 by writing for Susquehanna Cable in Rhode Island. After less than a year, while visiting her sister in Virginia Beach, she applied to WVEC and a month later was doing local news briefs during ABC's ``Good Morning America.''
In six months she was on noon news, then moved in 1990 into evening news.
She accepts the adrenalin rush in anchoring ``with only one chance to do it right. Maybe that's why I like pushing the envelope on outside projects. It's a way of finding things about yourself.''
Lima found that fear, pervading even the training course, was only a fraction of the level with which firefighters deal in the real world.
``There's no place on the sidelines for you in covering people who daily face life-and-death issues.''
Blue-eyed Cynthia Lima, anchoring the 6 p.m. news at WVEC-TV, is as cool as a string of pearls under the unwavering camera eye that would reduce most of us to fatuous babble.
What's more, every day for a week prior to going on air, she has been training for six hours in a crash course for firefighters.
As she climbed a swaying 110-foot ladder while carrying 40 pounds of gear or emerged from a smoke-filled building, her face dirty, mouth agape, eyes teary and hair awry, photographer Byron Burney was there to record every stagger.
In other forays, Lima has endured Navy-aviator survival training in Maine. She trained with soldiers for the Persian Gulf and reported in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Other times she has been in Kenya, Haiti and the Adriatic.
Why does she do it?
In a break Tuesday in editing three firefighting episodes that will begin airing tonight, Lima said, ``I think my husband is convinced at times I have a death wish.''
Rather, her wish is to live what others are going through.
``People are doing highly specialized things in my community about which we know little. The only way to share their story is to take a part of that walk,'' she said.
The day after two firefighters died in Chesapeake, she went to the Virginia Beach center to learn how firefighters protect themselves.
``They live under tremendous pressure, never knowing what they may face under any fire call,'' Lima said. ``They aim to maintain perfect calm amid utter chaos.
``In a burning building, you can't see, and the alarm on your tank tells you it is running out of air; but there's still a chance someone in that building needs help to get out. Firefighters manage to quell panic and do what has to be done.
``A major problem, lack of manpower, comes down to what a city can afford for staffing. If you felt what they went through, manpower wouldn't be an issue anymore.''
Born in Heidelberg, Germany, where her father was in the Army, Lima attended 10 schools ``everywhere,'' from East Providence to San Francisco, before graduating from high school.
An honors graduate from the University of Massachusetts, she realized she wanted to write. ``Writing is my best friend,'' she said.
``I loved to be able to create illusions or tell what I had seen or done. I didn't want to forget. I felt impelled to write.''
Lima entered television in 1983 by writing for Susquehanna Cable in Rhode Island. After less than a year, while visiting her sister in Virginia Beach, she applied to WVEC and a month later was doing local news briefs during ABC's ``Good Morning America.''
In six months she was on noon news, then moved in 1990 into evening news. She accepts the adrenalin rush in anchoring ``with only one chance to do it right. Maybe that's why I like pushing the envelope on outside projects. It's a way of finding things about yourself.''
Lima found that fear, pervading even the training course, was only a fraction of the level with which firefighters deal in the real world.
``There's no place on the sidelines for you in covering people who daily face life-and-death issues.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photos
WVEC-TV anchor Cynthia Lima took a course in firefighting to prepare
for a news series.
KEYWORDS: PROFILE BIOGRAPHY NEWS TELEVISION by CNB