(static)
(sad music)
- [Paul] Nobody knows why firemen are firemen.
Not even they can tell you why.
But it is time somebody tried.
Fire fighting is the most risky of all dead end jobs.
Yet also the one where most workers are most likely
to punch in early.
(sad music)
(crackling fire)
Any day at the firehouse the bell from hell
puts the dispatcher on the horn
with a tenement tinderbox address
into bunker pants, rubber turn out coats,
grab the mask and go.
Minutes later you're on site
as others run out, you go in.
You'll need all you can carry.
The four pound ax, the six foot hook, the Halligan pry bar.
(sad music)
Search, rescue, ventilate.
Eventually it's over and out.
You're smoke-smudged and sleepless and rung out.
But this one you won.
Behind the graffiti-fouled walls
you've saved what you could.
But the raging blaze,
that wanted to consume adjacent buildings, did not.
And it did not,
because you were there.
(slow music)
Wanting to go and fight a fire
it's something that you want to do.
And that sounds crazy to people.
But it's what we've trained for.
It's like Marines,
to me I relate it to Marines.
Where they want to do what they're trained for.
That's why they sign up.
They wanna protect the nation.
We want to protect the citizens
and their property and their families.
(sad music)
A firefighter to me, is just being a man for others.
And just sacrificing being at home for being at work
for 48 hours and being there
to help people that are in need.
People call 911 'cause they need your assistance
and we're expected to show up
and perform to the top of our abilities.
(slow music)
- [Paul] It's a quiet voice from nowhere saying,
"We're salvaging things and people from flames."
(slow music)
I have to rely on your hands.
(slow music)
(sirens blaring)
(helicopter blades spinning)