Les pompiers en haut de l'échelle

Hello everyone and welcome to this new episode of Visit Privé, your daily immersion behind the scenes of our heritage. So, we know their red trucks, their uniforms, and their phone numbers by heart, of course. Day and night, they help victims of fire, accidents or natural disasters. Their bravery is recognized by all and appreciated. These are, you will understand, the firefighters. These soldiers of fire who fascinate small and large and also have their heritage and their history. To accompany us, well, we have the honor and pleasure of welcoming on this set, Lieutenant Colonel Gabriel Plus, spokesman of the Paris Brigade of Firefighters. Hello Colonel, thank you for being with us. Hello, I am very honored. Well, it's us who are. Well, I'm going to give you the summary right away, in the image of our private visits of the day. Their motto, courage and dedication. For more than two centuries, the firefighters of France work day and night at the risk of their lives to help us and protect us. The number of victims taken care of by these heroes of fire continues to increase, 3.5 million French in 2015. In our country, firefighters intervene once every 7 seconds. Firefighters show their daily dedication to the service of the population. During the tragic events that have recently plagued our country, their courage and their commitment have been once again celebrated. The soldiers of fire impose respect and have always fascinated the elderly as well as the young. Moreover, firefighters are almost always at the top of the rankings of the favorite professions of the French. And among the most coveted professions among children, especially among young boys, is of course that of firefighter. I think it makes you dream, small and large, because it is an exceptional profession on which we have the chance to both help our neighbor and which puts us in exceptional situations in which everyone cannot find themselves. And I think these two factors make this profession dream. Today, you will live at the pace of the 250,000 firefighters of France and discover the heritage of this exceptional professional corps. A heritage first constituted of barracks. In France, there are nearly 7,000. Niche, in the heart of the swamp, the Sévigné barracks, the oldest in Paris, is an institution for all firefighters in the Hexagone. Sarah Pison will make you discover the daily life of these Parisian soldiers who evolve in a place where the foundations are almost millennial and have not yet delivered all their secrets. Here we have rare vestiges. There is a very good chance that we will discover here a lucarne from the roof of the 16th century. Firefighters and their heritage, it's not just about the old stones. For proof, a place full of memories, the Firefighters Museum of Montville in Normandy. To better understand the wheels of a profession in perpetual evolution for 200 years, Mathieu Guber will make you discover this municipality of 5,000 inhabitants who does a duty through this museum to preserve the firefighters' heritage. We have preserved here the oldest arm pump in the world. Which year? 1721. Finally, you will relive one of the most striking fires in the history of France, that of the Bazaar de la Charité in 1897. Florian Lietzler will come back on this tragic event which shook the Paris of the end of the 19th century and killed more than 120 people, including the Duchess of Alençon, the sister of the famous Empress Sissi. In the chapel, we can also see objects that were found in the rubble of the fire. Like these dolls, for example. They mean something to you. You can also see a watch that stopped at the time of the fire, at 4.30 a.m. Firefighters at the top of the ladder, it's right away in private visits. Colonel, we can see the job of a firefighter, it's easy. Small and big, by the way. How do you explain it? I think that most of us dream of being proud, to be proud to serve. Maybe to be drawn by an ideal, the ideal of altruism, to help others, to climb on a large scale, to hold a spear to a fire. Excuse me, Colonel, but in the nursery, for example, if we ask the children, they all want to be firefighters. If we all realized our childhood dreams, there would only be vetoes and firefighters. On the other hand, we less want to be policemen, for example. How do you explain in the hierarchy that firefighters are more popular than policemen? In the nursery, maybe it's because the child's dream is to wear a helmet. The firefighter's helmet is still more beautiful than the policeman's cap. Maybe that's what explains this attraction for the uniform of the firefighter. You feel it, for example, on July 13, July 14, between the Firefighters' Ball and the parade, you are the most popular. Indeed, there is a very strong link between the firefighters of Paris and the population. It has been verified since the liberation in the balls of July 14. Usually, it is the firefighter who goes to the Parisian, to the Francilian in general, and then it is the Francilian who comes to our barracks. We favor these exchanges between the firefighter of Paris and the Parisian, the citizen. We are really registered in the city. We are part of the city. You are right to make the difference between the Francilians and the Parisians and the rest of France, because the status is not the same. I believe that of the 250,000 firefighters that France has, 80% are volunteers who have another job every day in the other cities of France. To simplify, the family of firefighters in France is made up of professionals, people who do this full time, and volunteers, people who do this because it is something that is strong, that inhabits them, and that brings them assistance, help to others. Our most important volunteer population allows us to have access to this essential public service that we all need early and late. In Paris, in Marseille, it's a bit of a special story because the firefighters are military. It was Napoleon who decided for the firefighters of Paris in 1811. I think I know, it's the ball of the marriage of Napoleon I and Marie-Louise of Austria. There was a big reception at the Austrian embassy and there was a fire on the parquet. So Napoleon decided that there would be a brigade. You're doing a recruitment campaign all over the place and there are a lot of volunteers who show up. I have the impression that you don't have too many problems to recruit firefighters. For the firefighters of Paris, for example, we have 8 or 9 candidates for a position. How do you make the selection? Well, for a certain number of criteria, physical criteria, will criteria, academic criteria, and then most wait. But it's first, in my opinion, a vocation. And the volunteers? For the volunteers, it's maybe a little more difficult. If we can afford to call the citizen to volunteer, it starts with a very simple training, the gestures that save, a sensitization, and then gradually this desire will be born to give of his time beyond his work. Well, let's go now to the discovery of an institution dear to our friends firefighters. We all know it for its famous annual ball, but we are far from imagining all the secrets it contains. The Cévilier firehouse, the oldest firehouse in Paris. Well, imagine that it has opened exceptionally its doors to private visit cameras and it was you, Sarah, who had been ... Well, you were opened the doors. I must say, I do not see who can resist you. Thank you, Stéphane. Listen, it was absolutely incredible. I think firefighters are not used to receiving people in their firehouse. But this firehouse, I think it has a little more the habit of receiving people, and in particular historians must understand why. Very well, we follow you in the heart of the swamp for a dive in the daily life of these fire heroes. The firehouse, the public can only go there twice a year, for a summer ball or on Heritage Day. But no one doubts the stories and secrets that some of these buildings contain. Just today, I decided to show you the oldest firehouse in Paris, located in the heart of the swamp. Let's go for a private visit. We are at the Cévilier firehouse. Its particularity, firefighters have been installed for two centuries in a building that was not intended for this. Indeed, this building was a private hotel that was requisitioned at the French Revolution. It was in 1814 that one of the first companies of firefighters in Paris settled there. Hello, Captain Senec? Yes, nice to meet you. You are the captain of the unit of the 11th company? That's right, I'm in charge of the unit of the 11th company. And there you see, I'm taking a good look at the morning maneuver. If the daily life of these firefighters looks almost like that of all firehouses, here, the rescue simulations are carried out on the façade of a historic monument in 1988. And that is not common. There is a protection that has been installed on the façade so as not to deteriorate the façade and allow us to train in the best possible conditions. And during their daily training, firefighters practice an exercise born in this firehouse, the plank test. From now on, for every firefighter, this test is essential before going out for intervention. In fact, the big difficulty in this exercise is the fact that the fire suit tends to interfere with the movements and therefore we lose the ability to respond. So it's less the weight, it's more the mobility? It's both, it's the weight factor and mobility that make it difficult. With their equipment, helmets, boots and uniforms, they have 24 kilos more on their backs. So for me, as a civilian, it should be fine. Sarah Pison, 30 years old, zero years of service. Oh no, but I'm going to ... I'm going to ... There you go, it's not that difficult. Finally, with a little help. Help! Wow, it's physical training, isn't it? Absolutely, it's training that requires good physical resistance and also daily training. In the firehouse of Sévigné, you must also be able to show skills, especially to maneuver. The original plans of this 17th century course were not intended to park big trucks. It's not easy to get your trucks into this firehouse. No, it requires a lot of know-how. It is an operation that requires the presence of several people to guide the driver. With just a few centimeters of margin, you have to take your time to park the truck in reverse. And it's really not easy. It's a young driver who was recently put in the firehouse and still has to get used to this particularity of the firehouse. In such an old building, restorations are often necessary, such as in the gym where a beam recently cracked. To replace it, it took 300,000 euros and three years of work, which does not take away the pleasure of living in this place. What does it make you feel to live in a historical monument? It is an immense pride to live in a historical monument. We feel the weight of history that is with us and a certain responsibility that comes with it. In our rooms we have magnificent friezes. I can show them to you. You are in one of the rooms that makes our greatest pride the room of our drivers. They have the most beautiful friezes sculpted to spend their night. If today this room is a bedroom, at the time of Louis XIV, it was a reception room for the guests of prestige. These wood-sculpted friezes, discovered during a renovation, are the proof. You may be the only firefighters to sleep under friezes sculpted from the 17th century. There are two great chances that we have this chance. It's very beautiful. And these are not the only vestiges. To find out more, I called a specialist and I gave him an appointment in the combs or something to attract the attention of the firefighters. Hello. You are an art historian, a specialist in Parisian architecture. You look at the history of the caserns of Paris du Marais, especially this one. What can you tell us about this vestige? We have rare vestiges of what dates back to the 16th century. This form of interrupted front with a belt like this, there is a very good chance that we will discover here a lucarne from the roof of the 16th century. Wait, a vestige of the 16th century while the casern dates from the 17th? Well, yes, it is possible because the part where the casern is located here on the left was an extension of a particular hotel located on the right. The man who made these works is called Léon Boutillier of Chavigne. He was a politician close to Cardinal de Richelieu. He tells us in particular that to build this famous hotel by François Mansart, he spent something like 50,000 euros which was normally intended to pay off a maritime site in Holland. When he died, his private hotel split in two. The left part will become the casern and the right part, a prison. Since then, it has been destroyed. Today, there are only a few bars left visible at the site of the Mitoyan wall. Well, here it is. You see, this wall span is the only vestige we have of the Hotel de Birague which had become the embryo of the prison of force just before the revolution. It is in this prison that Marie Antoinette's best friend, Princess de Lamballe, was tortured and beheaded during the French Revolution. What is incredible in this course is that we have two vestiges side by side. On one side, the vestiges of the prison of force and on the other, this classified facade. Where is this facade such an unknown masterpiece? It is true that it is a facade which is very important because it is one of the rare entirely intact facades that we have in Paris by François Mansart, one of the greatest geniuses of the 17th century architecture. It should be noted that less than a dozen intact residences have been preserved. An important detail to note is the fact that we have the famous broken vaults of the roofs which allow to arrange rooms directly under the roofs because it is François Mansart when we borrowed the name to designate the Mansards, An internal museum, usually forbidden to the public, even records the history of the barracks and what happened there. We can see, for example, the closets of the former owner Léon Boutillier or engravings representing the neighborhood at the time. Look, for example, here we have the reproduction of an engraving which was made after a drawing made just before the works of François Mansart. Here we have the Saint Paul Church which still exists, which still has this aspect at the present time. And all this is the Hotel de Birague and here we have still visible a tower which marked the turning of Philippe Auguste's house. And this tower disappeared under the construction of the house of François Mansart but sometimes we look for the foundations in the basements of this barracks. The foundations of the Sévigné barracks could date back to the 12th century, that is, long before the installation of the firefighters in these places. So there may be traces of the oldest wall in Paris It remains to be found. The Sévigné barracks still hides some secrets to discover and who knows, it may be during the next renovation. In any case, what is certain is that this place continues to make people dream. Incredible! The old wall of Philippe Auguste is under this Sévigné barracks. But what is strange, Sarah, is that normally when you settle in such a particular hotel, an institution like the firefighters, you can fear that it denatures the place and that it damages it. But here, on the contrary, they preserve it. Exactly, they preserve it, they take great care of it, like the powder you saw in my subject. And the friezes especially, because in any administration, in any ministry, they would have been bathed, they would have been boxed to make things easier. Is it important to defend the heritage when you live in such a place? It is important, it seems to me, to defend its history. The firefighters of Paris, it is an old institution, 250 years of existence. So much for the heritage, so much for the know-how, so much for some equipment. We remember what we left to our ancestors and we try to take the best part of it, to make it progress, to innovate more, but yes, to preserve our heritage, to preserve our barracks. We are inscribed in this city and we owe it to our fellow citizens. I'm sure it makes you jealous, because a chamber like this, I'm sure there are firefighters who will see the subject and say I want to be mutilated here, no? I think there are advantages and disadvantages. I don't know if it's well heated, I don't know if it's fully functional compared to the more modern barracks of the Petite Courne. In any case, what is certain is that they have adapted to this place. They have been in this barracks for two centuries and they had to adapt. In Sévigné, like in any barracks, when the driver leaves with his truck, he leaves without a map, he leaves without a GPS. He knows his sector by heart. And in his sector, he knows. He also knows the entrance gate by heart. Otherwise, the red truck... And you know that to respect the architecture of Sévigné or other barracks, it is the machine in its size that has been adapted to the delivery and not the delivery that has adapted to the machine. You spent 48 hours with them. I see that you participated in the training. By the way, the board test will have to be rescheduled. What are their particular values in Sévigné? Saving or perishing is really the value of the firefighters of Paris. But there is also altruism, efficiency, discretion. And there is also the notion that we are helping any person, regardless of their religion, their social origin. This is really a universal value among firefighters. Is the board exercise specific to France or not? It has been rescheduled, it has been standardized. It is our comrade Fantassin, the infantry, who put this in place and who then initiated gymnastics as a favorite sport of firefighters. You have to be agile because you have to be able to go up and down. You have to act as a team. To find a certain balance as a team, gymnastics has been recommended. And the first movement of gymnastics is the board. For example, there are now women who are firefighters. The board test, you are right, is adapted to the female staff. The female staff of the firefighters of Paris is 3%. This does not mean that they do not have their place. The test is therefore adapted. It is enough for the woman to suspend herself for a few minutes on the board to be able to get on the machine. Has the fire station been adapted for women? There is apparently a woman in this fire station, but I did not have the chance to meet her. She was behind the bars that we saw. You have a woman, you have to open more, Colonel. Yes, we open more. The women are willing to reinforce our ranks. They have all their places, especially in the first aid. How did the integration of women in the firefighters of Paris happen? It is a military unit, unlike other units of the army, apart from the submarines and the foreign legion. There were already women, yes, there were not at all. It is very recent. Florent is right, it is 1970. I think we have to wait for the 70s for the integration of women. A little later, in the 70s, for some units of the army, then the army of the land that we depend on in terms of status opened its doors to women in the 90s. We did the same thing. Today we are happy to have done it because they have all their places. In most barracks, families live, so there were already women. It is not as if there was a woman among a universe of men. To better understand the evolution of this incredible profession, let's now take the direction of my city in Normandy. There is the Museum of French Firefighters and you will see that it is a real Alibaba barracks. Isn't it, Mathieu? Well played, Stéphane. Beyond the love story that there is between the region of Haute-Normandie and this museum, the inhabitants of Montville and Mont-Villet and this museum, these are numbers that make your head spin. 2,500 square meters, 150 vehicles, more than 5,000 pieces of collection. It is a masterful collection in a unique place. This is what makes this museum one of the most beautiful in Europe. But I invite you to discover it. Discover this museum and especially these fantastic objects by telling you that they have allowed thousands of people to have a safe life. A lot of little boys dream of doing this. Flying a plane. Or this. Driving a fire truck. Myself, well, we're not here to talk about me, but about a unique place. The Museum of French Firefighters in Montville which preserves three centuries of heritage of this profession which always makes you dream, little and big. Follow me. Its foundation in May 1993 is the story of a meeting between a collector firefighter and the mayor of the time. Both are sensitive to the past of their commune and then embark on this ambitious project. Pascal Martin lived this historic moment. By the elective functions that my father exercised at the time, he was able to convince some patrons. There was an association between a city which assured with partners the investment and an association which is the owner of the collections and which regularly brings new equipment within this beautiful museum. Madam Mayor, you must be very jealous when you say that you are the mayor of a city where there is a museum of firefighters. Yes, I think it's possible. I was sure of it. I'm going to discover the museum. At the end of the 1970s, the Corps des Sapeurs-Pompiers modernized its car park. The old machines are doomed to destruction but some passionate firefighters like Jean-Pierre Collinet decided to save them. Since 1980, there are already 50 vehicles. The collection was born. In fact, it is your desire to show pieces of the collection that influenced and generated this museum. Yes, because I think that at some point when we have an important collection as we could have made it, we could have made demonstrations, presentations. It was not healthy enough that there was a real desire from the volunteers around us and from the public. There was an enthusiasm of the public for these collections. It is a museum that contains real pieces of the collection, including one of the most beautiful pieces of the collection that you are most proud of. It's an arm pump. Yes, absolutely. We have preserved here the oldest arm pump still preserved in the world. So arm pump, very simple, because arms, a pump and ... A system of levers that allows to operate the pistons. The pistons will draw water through this channel to the incendiary lance behind. With buckets like this one, we feed the tank. When the tank is full, we put 8 people on each side, we pump and we project the water at 20 meters high. But to extinguish a fire, it took 3 days. Well, of course. So the first, with huge quotation marks, fire truck, we can say that's it. And trucks, this museum now has an impressive collection. 30 arm pumps, 60 motorcycle pumps, 77 fire trucks, 17 mechanical scales, 17 connecting vehicles and 13 special machines. All more red and ruthless than the others. Here, Jean-Pierre, we are a bit on the Walk of Fame, as the Americans say, the way of the stars. I imagine it's the piece that makes the world dream. Which piece are you most proud of? So maybe the first piece that entered the museum, it's the scale of the Heye. She did all the war. She even had the opportunity to cut the foot of a German officer during the fire defense of the Cathedral of Rouen. In addition, you saw that my father was a firefighter. I lived in the fire station. I was practically born in the fire station. And very young, I played on this machine. And she lived until 1977, when she was promised the house. So in 1977, you are the captain, right? Absolutely. So here is the little boy, he is the young captain and he is the caring man of the heritage who says to himself, stop, I disobey the orders and I hide it at home until one day I get it out. A machine that marked the life of our collector and for others, that of the history of the region, like this 1942 Dodge used by the G.I. We can assume that he landed on our beaches in Normandy. All the war will destroy a lot of machines, even the Germans will leave with the debacle, with some firetrucks that they stole. And in 1945, we will go back on American vehicles. The collection also traces the evolution of techniques and equipment as well as those of the uniforms. All these uniforms are from the time. So yes, the first ones were around 1860, the sappers' blouses. Then we have 1885, the outfit in Brandenburg. That on a fire is very chic, but it will do nothing. That is to say that we do not go into the fire too much in these cases, we stay outside. This museum of 2,500 square meters hosts more than 10,000 visitors per year, all gathered around the memory. You look very moved. It was my first truck that I drove. Were you a firefighter? No, I was just a road driver. It touches me a lot, frankly. It's really something wonderful. After all, firefighters are classy. Exactly. And if the bodies shine in the eyes of the visitors, it is thanks to the meticulous work of passionate people. A necessary restoration, but crowned with success, because all these vehicles are rolling again. Hello gentlemen. Here are some volunteers from the association, including the head of the workshop, who is Michel. So there is still a hierarchy. Absolutely. Everyone has to have a role. It is important that things are done very clearly. Hello chef. Mathieu, nice to meet you. Michel distributes the workshops. In general, there are two or three volunteers around a machine. They prepare the machine from A to Z. I'm going to ask you a silly question. How long does it take you to restore a machine? It can be very variable. When they are in very poor condition, it can be several years. I feel that Michel has a nugget to show us. For example, the Berlier from 1935, has been in the workshop for more than four years. Do you turn your thumbs or what? Why is it important to maintain this heritage? Why do you work so hard? For former firefighters, we want to continue to show the machines we used when we were younger. Did you know the colonel? Of course. We can go to the first aid vehicle. This one? Yes, it's beautiful. You worked with it? Yes, when I was in the army. This vehicle was used until 1976. That's when I joined the army. This vehicle was in service. My colonel, this truck followed you all your career. Including now? Yes, including now. It's fabulous. The attachment of the population to these firefighters does not date from today because they played a considerable role in the region. It is these weapons that we will see with the historian of the village, the master of time, the one to whom no historical anecdote escapes, Alain Alexandre. Hello, Mathieu. Nice to meet you. Me too. The firefighters here are highly sought after for the Wannese region, especially in 1944. On April 19, 1944 at night, the Allies bombed Sotheby's. Sotheby's is a strategically important 900 people died in one night. It was a strategic area. Rouen was really by its port, by its communication boxes. Rouen will soon become a resistance village. Firefighters will also play this role within the resistance to help the population. Alain, I am delighted because for a private visit, the chic meeting of heritage on France 2, here we are on a parking lot. And not just any parking lot. I imagine. We imagine Montville 170 years ago. On Tuesday, August 19, 1845, a disaster, a tornado will come here, ravage this valley. Workers, workers, men, women and children. Three rows will be completely carried away, devastated by the breath of this terrible hurricane that kills 70 people. And 300 injured. Instead of this parking lot, an infirmary is established, an ambulance with firefighters. And among the doctors, there is the father of Gustave Flaubert, Achim Cleophas Flaubert, who is actually a surgeon from the hospitals of Rouen, from the Hotel Dieu de Rouen, where Gustave Flaubert was born in 1821. Can we say that it is a key date that marks and seals this attachment? We can say it. It is a date, one of the first dramatic interventions, but at the same time, an emergency for the workers. You, as a historian, how do you see it, through what prism, this museum? I think it is an exceptional place of memory that highlights the material, but especially the men. These men whose motto is, let's call it, courage and dedication. And I think it is a place of memory that the Rouen agglomeration and the city of my city can be proud of and must glorify. Thank you, Mathieu, for this superb report. I imagine that young firefighters enjoy going to see what the great elders... Exactly. It is a place of memory, it is a place of transmission, it is the transmission of heritage. I know that you are also very attached to it. Indeed, there is an association of young firefighters that sensitizes young people to future jobs through gestures, gestures that you, professionals, practice. And at the same time, it is a school of life because it teaches them respect, hierarchy, etc. There are a lot of young firefighters in training, about how many? A slice of age? Indeed, a slice of age, from 15-16 years old to 18 years old. A training that lasts two years, every Saturday. It is a real commitment that is concluded by the delivery of a firefighter's license. Of course, in the pedigree to enter as a professional, it can be useful to be a young firefighter. Isn't it sometimes a family story? Mathieu talks about transmission, but isn't it also when your parents, when your father was a firefighter, you wanted to continue in your career? My father wasn't a firefighter at all, but I think that the son of a firefighter who grew up in the firehouse, who climbed the ladder, who reveals his father's helmet quite regularly, he can certainly promote a vocation. Dogs rarely give birth to cats. In my city, there is a whole family, especially the fish family, there are still dynasties of firefighters. And then, the ancestors knew the arm pumps. I think his great-grandfather must have known him. I think the old firefighters knew the arm pumps. The ancestors of our modern water launchers. Primitive material that was used until the 1950s, which must have been a priest, in my opinion, because it was extremely complicated. It seems that the arm pumps were a rather effective material. Indeed, you can't do without the arm pump as long as you don't have a water network that allows you to connect at any point. Things have changed. Everywhere you see a water point every 100 meters. The firefighter knows it. On his map, he knows that he has such a water point with such a flow. And the firefighter knows that he needs such a flow depending on the floor. The higher you go up, the more important the flow is. The pump must burst to have the necessary flow to protect the firefighter and to reach the fire. It's an exciting museum. Do you know this museum? Thanks to you, I know it now. It's fabulous to have all this heritage of vehicles and objects of firefighters. Uniforms too. It's really a history lesson thanks to this report. We can see how archaic it was at the time. It's a kind of diligence with which there is a lot of water. I remember a kind of micro-bath in the middle that extinguished the fire at the Bastille during its outbreak. When you see that, you wonder how they extinguished the fire. I think they had to blow on it and wait for it to happen. Mathieu, you're giving me a hint. We're going to talk about these great historical events. Let's go back to Paris and look at a few highlights of the Champs-Élysées. It's May 4, 1897 at 17 Jean Goujon Street. The whole aristocracy gathers for a big charity sale. The time is right because at the end of the day, the first films of the Lumière brothers must be screened. But a terrible fire will break out. I'm not saying you were there, but it cost the lives of many nobles. Between 120 and 130 people. Many members of the bourgeoisie came to see this film. It's been in service since 1895 and it's from there that the fire started. The most famous of the victims is the Duchess of Alençon, the sister of the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, also known as Sissi, who died in the fire because she was rescuing the victims. She wanted to be the last one to leave and she died in the fire. Let's discover the story of the fire at the Bazar de la Charité. It's a simple and obvious concept. The emergency exit. However, it wasn't always the case. Let's go back to 1897. May 4, 1897. The fire at the Bazar de la Charité in Paris. A wooden building, long and narrow. A brazier, where in a few minutes more than 120 guests burn. Most of them from the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie. Because the Bazar is a Parisian institution. A charity sale bringing together several works of charity. The whole of Paris has been in a hurry since its creation in 1885. This mundane event takes place in the chic neighborhoods, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, place Vendôme in 1889, rue de la Boétie from 1890 to 1996. In 1897, the Bazar is here. From the 15th to the 23rd of rue Jean Goujon. Today, you see, there is a church, buildings, but at the time, you have to imagine a wasteland ready for the organization of the Bazar. A wasteland of about 100 meters long by 50 meters wide, on which a wooden building was built, which I would lengthen if it was still there. A wooden building in which the reconstruction of a street in Paris was installed in the Middle Ages. Inside, we would believe it. In each little shed, a work of charity was installed. 22 counters that will burn down. Today, passers-by walk the street without knowing the drama that took place here, despite the presence of an imposing chapel. Notre-Dame de la Consolation was built in 1903 after the fire. It is dedicated to the victims. It does not belong to the church, but to an association, the Memorial du Bazar de la Charité. Madame Ducret, you are the president, but you also have a personal link with this story. Yes, I am a direct descendant, little girl, of a victim of the fire of the Bazar de la Charité. It is a commitment, because we must preserve the memory not only of the monument, but of the victims. Victims who, like my ancestor, have descendants, so the descendants can still think of their ancestors. But you have many victims who do not have any descendants and we must also remember them. The people who died were essentially people who held the stands, who were workers' presidents, who left last, who wanted to leave last and who could not leave. And it is a catastrophe that had made an extremely important emotion in the city of Paris. Inside, engraved plates with the names of the victims. The chapel has not changed since 1900. Everything is from that time. Nelly Ducret leads me to the back. So this is one of the first rooms. In this first room is the vestibule of the Chemin de Croix which continues and so you already have the names of the first victims up to the letter H. I see a little girl who is 4 years old. She is 4 years old. This is the youngest, little Esther Cuvillier, who is the youngest victim. You have Élise Blansca. Élise Blansca was the secretary of Clemenceau. Élise, at 62, is getting old and is losing her sight. So we imagine that Élise came to ask for help with a work. You know the story of everyone. I tried to be interested in all people. This is the goal of our association. There is something striking when we look at the list of victims. I'm going to read you some names so you can see. Marguerite, Marie, Suzanne, Charlotte, Justine, Cécile. Do you notice only women's names? Because this day, among the 125 victims, there are only 5 men. It's going to be a scandal. A newspaper accuses men of giving blows, of being marquis of the powder of the scamp who would have killed women by letting them burn. This is why so few men would have died. A fabulation, according to Élie Ducret. There were very few men. Anyway, we count 5% of men in the demonstration. Charity works were organized and activated by women only. So there were many more women than men. Anyway, I would say that a man would not put himself in a charity work. Along the walls, including the most famous one, the Duchess of Alençon, Sophie-Charlotte de Bavière, the little sister of the Empress of Austria, Sissi. In the chapel, we can also see objects found in the rubble of the fire. Like these dolls, for example. I mean, it's something. To be next to it, it gives you a bit of a bump in the stomach. There was also a child who was there. You can also see a watch that was stopped at the time of the fire, at 4.30 p.m. There are also many metal objects in this showcase. Chisels, bowls, cups, all deformed by the heat or by shaking. All these objects really show the intense heat it must have done during the fire, several hundred degrees. The cause of the fire is a new invention, a very fashionable invention in 1897, the cinematograph, as popular as flammable. In a small projection room adjacent to the bazaar, the technician cracks a match that ignites the ether vapors of the lighting lamp. Fabienne Boully, a little girl at the time, went into the room at that time. On the radio in 1956, she remembers. I hear, boom! And then I raise my nose and I see flames, but immediate, and taking, you know, an extraordinary speed. On my charlotte, I was dressed in English embroidery, I received a flammable drop. This flammable drop slipped on the charlotte, flamed my hair that I wore long, first hurt me very much, gave me a horrible fear. The front door, which I was not very far from, was open. I had the strength to tear myself from Madame Le Grand's arms and I came out of the first in flames. The whole building flamed in 15 minutes. The fire is very violent. And to talk about it, I am with Major Didier Rolland. You are a firefighter from Paris, but you are also a historian. Major, what makes the bazaar such a blaze? So, already on the one hand, we have a building that is of light construction. These are wooden structures and the interior is entirely composed of cardboard or extremely light wood and painted tints. So something that is extremely flammable, it is spread by this vellum that covers, that masks this not very aesthetic ceiling of light wooden structures. It's a wooden canvas, it drips on people, these are flammable debris. And there we have people who are naked, bare shoulders, hair on fire, clothes on fire. We have a beginning of panic. We have a hard time locating the exits. Exits not many enough, not indicated, trapped by turnstiles. And there is worse. And here we have corpses who made a mistake because of the sets which are turnstiles and which simulate doors. So they led a number of women, people, children, to the exits, things they thought were doors and which turned out to be turnstiles. Outside, a photographer records the last moments of the bazaar at 4.35 and the collapse of the facade at 4.40. In the street, some will have a heroic behavior. In front of the charity bazaar, there is a car thief. Around, men take a cart and use it as a belly to smash the walls of the bazaar and allow more people to flee. But among the heroes, there are no firefighters. To find out where they were heading, the barracks of Champéret, where the equipment of the time remains. So here is the famous steam pump, the spearhead of the Paris Fire Brigade. The firefighters arrive with it at the bazaar, but too late. You had to tie the horses? You had to tie the horses, but the barracks are equipped with stables. How long does it take for the firefighters to arrive at the bazaar? Since the innovation of this pump, we arrive in 15 minutes, 20 minutes maximum. At the charity bazaar, unfortunately, the time of the cynicism is 15 minutes. So the firefighters really arrive at the moment when everything is practically finished, the blood of the victims is almost played. Despite everything, they will serve to establish about twenty spears that will protect the facades of the neighboring buildings and especially the surroundings. The mistake in the drama of the bazaar is not to have anticipated the risk of fire. Before the disaster, the emergency exits, the fire safety measures do not exist. And immediately after, they do not exist either. You have to wait 11 years for a first text to draw the lessons of the drama. At the Massenat bazaar, the Russian commander, a specialist in fire prevention, tells me about the 1908 ordinance. This is already a first local regulation, city of Paris, which concerns the showrooms and the cafés. And already in this regulation, we see the emergency exits appear which must therefore be in accordance with the public that is admitted in these establishments. It was only in 1980 that the anti-fire regulation was born, still in force today. And it imposes much more than emergency exits. This? The extinguisher, mandatory in all public establishments. This? This is an extraction nozzle that extracts the smoke. This? This is a fireplace of armed fire that can be found in some public establishments. So here, let's say, I shake my hand, I turn, I'm on the floor. Yes, clearly. There are still many other means of protection, enough for firefighters to estimate the current satisfactory regulation, which prevents dramas like that of the bazaar from repeating themselves. There is a very interesting thing. I think I know that the fire of the charity bazaar has marked the birth of odontology. Yes, legal odontology, that is, the way we identify the bodies of the victims thanks to their teeth, thanks to their mouth, because it was terribly hot and the bodies that come out of the debris are completely, there are about forty that cannot be identified. And then it is the Paraguayan consul who has the idea of ​​calling the dentist of some guests to see if they can recognize the people. And that's how the Duchess of Alençon can be identified. His dentist, Isaac Davenport, comes and looks at about thirty corpses and among the last, he recognizes his work, the teeth he had removed, the teeth he had cemented, that kind of thing. And that's how she identified. It's a technique that was already used, but it's the first time in France that authorities recognize it, it's the first legal identification. If I could make black humor talking about the Duchess of Alençon, I would say that it is quite short that we have been able to identify her. We can say that. There are only you who can do it. So precisely, I think you have the small newspaper of the time. Of the time, which makes the supplement illustrated on the bazaar and we really see the violence, it's something we see, since I worked with, it's a lot of newspapers that tell the fire at the time and it's very violent also in the text, that is to say, they tell the details. It's the press of the time, that's how we make the fact of winter, even if you see, it's the supplement illustrated, because the image works even better than the text in the fact of winter. It's the whole press, the dramatic side of this event. But my colonel, precisely this bazaar, this fire of the bazaar of charity, it still remains in the collective and in the history of firefighters as really a key moment, a dramatic moment, moreover. Yes, it's on these dramas, on that of the embassy, that of the bazaar of charity, that gradually the firefighter progresses, innovates, both in his equipment and in prevention. If the profession is more turned towards saving or perishing, well, on top of all that, there is an extremely tedious, very long work, which is that of preventionist. Every time a building comes out of the ground today in Paris, there is a preventionist who is behind the architect and who is going to advise him the right distance, the huge fires, the huge evacuations. You yourself, on a personal level, my colonel, is that in your career as a firefighter, there are moments when you have experienced fires so dramatic, I don't say so dramatic, but that have shaken you, that have marked you, that have made you move forward too. Yes, yes. This job makes you humble. As soon as you see people, and I have been confronted with this, you see families disappearing in a fire, especially at night, who are killed by the smoke. And it's hard when you realize that the prevention systems were not maintained, that the safety standards were not respected. So today there are far fewer deaths than before on fires. There are still too many. There is a feeling of anger, but at the same time, as you are quite constructive, you say, we have to move forward, we need new measures. What is the average intervention time today? Today we are at about ten minutes, so there is an incomprehensible delay, the firefighters are not teleporting yet, but you have to know that it is a time especially for the witnesses, for the victims, which can seem much longer. Between the call to the firefighters and their arrival, even if it's only five minutes, for the victims who witness the tragedy, it will seem much, much longer. Is this time that is long, maybe too long for the victims, is it also long for you who are intervening? In your distress, forgive my slowness, said General Cassot, indeed the minutes that are long for the victim and also for the firefighter are always too long, but you have to know that in Paris, between the moment you call, you do the 18 or 112, and the moment the first machines arrive, it takes an average of eight minutes. There are techniques, it's funny, I was talking with a firefighter in the barracks, who told me that he had seen firefighters who, at night when they were on duty, put their pants around their shoes, that is, when they got up, they put their foot directly in their shoes, it allowed them to take off their pants and win a few seconds, which could be very precious and very important. Mathieu, I think you had a question for the colonel. Yes, we realize that firefighters save us. When we think about these history lessons, when we even think about history, we often evoke the corps d'armée who defended us, but not those who saved us, those who save us on a daily basis, like firefighters. Why such an oblivion, in the end? Maybe the humility linked to firefighters. Yes, indeed, in both cases, they are men who save. If I go back to the history of the Paris firefighters, the two world conflicts, we asked the Paris firefighters to invent a gun for the German flamethrowers in 1917. The Paris firefighters hurried to form companies of flamethrowers on the front. It is very little known, because it is not their primary vocation. I would say that we see the firefighters maybe on a daily basis, but maybe not so much in history. But indeed, we favor those people who defend the facts of arms, the military, the navy, the gendarmerie, the police, whose role was sometimes a little debatable. Yes, maybe because it highlights more the history. A fire of the Bazar de la Charité has changed the norms of prevention, the ways of intervening, but will not change in a strategic way the history of France. Yes, of course. I hope that this afternoon we have rehabilitated the history of the Paris firefighters and the profession of firefighter, because you save us and you have a heritage that you preserve, that you put in value, especially in my city. I invite everyone to go there, because you are the only one to be able to do the board. In any case, thank you, Colonel, for being with us today to talk to us about the actions of the Paris firefighters. Thank you also to you, Sarah, Florian and Mathieu. I'll see you tomorrow, same time, same channel, for new private visits. Thank you for following us and see you tomorrow.