LYON EMERGENCY SERVICES: FIREFIGHTERS UNDER PRESSURE | Enquête d'action | W9

They are Lyon’s guardian angels: 6,000 firefighters on duty, day and night, serving the capital of the Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes region and the surrounding area. They barely have a moment’s rest, called out nearly 3,000 times every day! For several weeks “Enquete d’Action” shared the daily experiences of two firehouses facing the heat: Corneille, in the city centre, and Villeurbanne, on the outskirts. Heavy drinking, brawls or assaults: weekends are especially onerous for firefighters. You will accompany Foudil on an extremely difficult night’s operations. He’s an experienced professional, who has to take care of a young man violently injured during a brawl. Beaten with a hammer, he hovers between life and death. In France, a house fire breaks out every two minutes. Rescue operations that are never straightforward for the firefighters especially when they have to operate in narrow streets with difficult access. Such is the case in Lyon Old Town, where you accompany Christophe and his crew grappling with an apartment fire whose choking smoke threatens an entire building. You will also witness some seemingly impossible rescues because the victims cannot be reached. In cases like this, the Lyon firefighters call upon their crack unit: the GRIMP, specializing in operations in dangerous environments. Veritable urban mountaineers, these men are able to operate where other firefighters cannot go.