Sapeur Pompier is a photograph by Nigel Jones which was uploaded on November 6th, 2012.
Sapeur Pompier
A Sapeur Pompier (firefighter) from Dordogne France. I spotted this fireman (Sapeur Pompier) while on holiday, he couldn't speak a word of English... more
by Nigel Jones
Title
Sapeur Pompier
Artist
Nigel Jones
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
A Sapeur Pompier (firefighter) from Dordogne France. I spotted this fireman (Sapeur Pompier) while on holiday, he couldn't speak a word of English and my pigeon French was next to useless. However, between us we struck up a rapport, of sorts, and he worked out what the silly English tourist wanted. So, in the 35 degree heat he put on his heavy, flameproof, coat and helmet, pulled down the visor and the rest, as they say, is history. The shadow in the visor is that of the fireman, I have managed to remove my svelte figure from the shot!!
The fire service in France is known as Sapeurs-pompiers, except in Marseille, where naval "sailor-firefighters", marins-pompiers, provide fire and rescue services. There are two categories:
The Paris Fire Brigade (Army) and Marseille Marine Fire Battalion (Navy) are military units providing fire protection to Paris and Marseille. The rest of France has civilian fire services organized, supervised and trained by the French Ministry of the Interior; specifically, they fall under the Civil Defence and Security Directorate (Direction des défense et sécurité civiles, DDSC).
There are approximately 250,584 fire service personnel in France operating 15,000 emergency vehicles out of 10,238 emergency centres.
Pompier (firefighter) etymologically comes from the concept of pumping (water) and refers to the manual pumps that were originally used. Sapeur means "sapper" and refers to the first official firefighting unit created by Napoleon I which was part of the military engineering arm.
Uploaded
November 6th, 2012
