Of all five newsreels filmed from the disaster, none show the moment the fire first broke out. Most of the cameramen had their cameras aimed at the ground crew and only started rolling seconds after the fire first appeared. The Pathe Cameraman, William Deeke, did have his camera focused on the airship as it caught fire, but his camera malfunctioned. He had to set up a hand crank and by the time he started filming the ship was already burning and its tail was already on the ground. The footage shown in the Hearst and Universal Newsreels (filmed by Hearst's James Seeley) is the most complete of the four reels filmed.