Concept
We often think about things that don’t exist. The heroes of the fictional world who live only in our fantasies. About their lives, their actions and their exploits. We bring their images to the ideal, force ourselves to believe in their existence. But reality is not a continuation of fantasies. It’s not the way it works. And real people, too.
Under the influence of misperceptions of society, a person is held hostage to images that aren’t made up by him. These images follow him, freeing him only when he is alone with him. But their blood pressure is rising with every new move made in plain sight. In the eyes of people who do not separate the appearance and the hidden behind it.
That part of the firefighters' work that we see is just one, the outside side of their lives. A beautiful picture of a hero breaks down soon after you’re behind the scenes, where you discover a real person. A man with his struggles, difficulties, and contradictions, a life he strives to live with dignity. We don’t know anything about them. Who are they, how did they get here, and why are they here? We think they’re fearless, but fear is part of each of us, and we think they’re powerful, but they’re just like us. Someone came here at the call of their heart, someone followed a friend’s example, someone didn’t know where to go and chose this case, because it’s brute. There can be many reasons. But the important thing is that these people are here now and that they’re all part of something bigger.
No one really knows how the fire department works.
On days when no departure takes place in 24 hours, time can last indefinitely. Waiting becomes part of the job. The circumstances that lead to saving lives are rare. Often firefighters have to go to a lot of false calls arising from smoke-related alarms on a stairwell. To react to the burning of garbage or the burning of food, which in most cases is put out by the complainants themselves in a moment after a palpable fear. Heavy fires are much heavier than we can imagine. They make you forget about yourself and fall into the unknown. They leave only a terrible sense of exhaustion. It’s a lot of physical work. It is a dangerous job, where every day it is to overcome fatigue, temperature, smoke — another frontier that opens up new dimensions in people that erase the very notion of the limit.
In such circumstances, the charm of heroism disappears, exposing the other side — the side of a man who has lost his strength. His eyes are shocked, thirsty and hot. He did the impossible, but he was so tired. These heavy episodes help the team to cope. Mocking jokes, pranks, talking to colleagues, minutes of laughter and joy are things that distract from bad things. There’s a lot of support and a lot of care.
There’s so much in this job, and we see so little in it. We only know part of it, while everything deserves to be seen.
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