Warren student claims top spot again for fire video

Warren Township High School sophomore Mathurshan Vimalesvaran is becoming a hot commodity in the world of fire-prevention videos.

Vimalesvaran, a Gurnee resident, recently was announced as the winner of a contest for high school students sponsored by the Lake County Fire Chiefs Association. It was the second consecutive year he took top prize.

Lake County's chiefs annually seek the best YouTube video for fire safety and burn prevention. Vimalesvaran received $500 for his victory with "Crossfire," while Gurnee-based Warren District 121 was rewarded with a new camera.

Using a neck-down video style for the 2009 contest, Vimalesvaran spends 2 minutes and 41 seconds telling teenagers how to stay safe from fires. He said he patterned the video after a Hewlett-Packard commercial.

As 009 Sound System's "With a Spirit" plays in the background, Vimalesvaran makes it appear as though he were holding the computer graphics in his hand as he notes various fire statistics. His information was culled, in part, from the U.S. Fire Adminstration's Web site.

Despite his second consecutive win, Vimalesvaran said the video production didn't come easy. He said he spent about a month's worth of weekends working on his entry and taught himself how to use Adobe's After Effects software for his production.

"It was really hard because it was a new (computer) program and I didn't really know what I was doing," he said.

Vimalesvaran said he's learned a lot about fire and burn safety researching his videos for two years running, but he's not contemplating a public safety career. The karate brown belt said he wants to spend some of the $500 he won on a martial arts uniform, also known as gi.

Countryside Fire Protection District's Tony Rodkey coordinated the fire safety and burn prevention video contest.

Videos are supposed to be 1 to 3 minutes long. Countryside officials stress the production shouldn't demonstrate unsafe or otherwise risky behavior or real fire.