Page 25 - THE FIRE STATION

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F. : “There used to be a real team spirit. We spent so many hours
together, sharing the stress, fighting fires, dealing with acci-
dents. That welded us together! I myself organised a series of
leisure activities for my colleagues. Saint Nicolas parties for
the children,a squad of firemen for certain processions, an or-
chestra, a football team and even a pelota team. My father was
a pelota referee.We organised car, cycle and motorbike rallies,
as well as angling contests. We even had our own cycling cham-
pion, Pierre Hérinne, who won several races held specifically for
firemen. He won the world road racing championships in 2002
and 2004, and the world mountain-bike championship in 2003.
I even organised parachute jumps, and also got the firemen to
collectively take part in the Charleroi 10,000 metre run in which
we ran together, crossing the finishing line in rank and with our
helmets on.”
Thirty-five years after first joining the brigade, François, now a lieu- cue and cutting equipment.”
tenant, welcomed 24-year-old Oscar Delcominette (name changed)
as a new member of the Charleroi fire brigade. His ID number?
Some ten times higher than that of François, up above 400.
Oscar : “Actually, I wasn’t really supposed to become a fireman.
I’ve got a degree in economics. But I felt the need to help others.
And it’s also a childhood dream come true. You don’t become
a fireman for the money. Basically, it’s a calling which requires
a lot of altruism and good athletic capabilities, similar to those
required for the police. It’s not everyone who can become a fire-
man! At the latest Federal aptitude test, less than ten percent of
candidates passed. These then have to await notification of a
competitive examination for the area they are interested in. If
that goes well, they will join the reserve, or possibly even be re-
cruited. After that, they have to pass various exams to progress
up the career ladder. It’s quite a tough path and it somewhat blots
out that idealised childhood dream and the altruism.”
1961-2016
And fifty years later? Things have grown by a factor of ten!
On 1 January 2016, François’ team of 36 had been replaced by a
332-man unit, made up of 20 officers, 83 sergeants and warrant
officers, 207 firemen and corporals, as well as 22 administrative
and technical staff members.
The meagre fleet of seven vehicles in the 1960s has expanded
greatly and now has eighty appliances, including nine high-
volume pumps, one industrial pump, five turntable ladders,
one hydraulic platform, three water tenders, two brush fire
appliances, four rescue tenders, a water rescue unit equipped
with a motorboat, 23 light vehicles and 11 ambulances.
O.: “Within 55 years, the workforce has increased by a factor of
10, and the buildings haven’t been able to keep up (new rooms,
walls taken out, floorspace reallocated, rebuilding work), as the
space just wasn’t there. All of this greatly inconvenienced the
people working here. 5 office workers for instance were having to
share a room initially intended for two people. As regards the fire
appliances themselves, there haven’t been that many changes.
What has changed is the role of electronics, as seen in the gas
detection equipment with its multi-criteria apparatus or in res-
This large increase in the workforce is also the result of the
permanent evolution of the missions carried out by the Charleroi
fire brigade, even if the length of the list has basically remained
unchanged.
However, in line with the development of new technologies,
every now and then a new mission emerges, only to disappear a
few years later.
For example, the emergence of television required the installa-
tion of aerials on each house. These caused a lot of problems dur-
ing storms. With the advent of cable TV, aerials now belong to the
past. Solar panels (thermal and photovoltaic) and their associated
problems will undoubtedly see similar developments.
The evolution of heating systems, with coal practically disappear-
ing as a source of heat, has led to a reduction in chimney fires
and deaths from asphyxiation.
Natural gas has now replaced what used to be known as “town
gas”, a gas heavier than air that caused many explosions and
asphyxiations due to the fact that it has no smell.
The unceasing rise of the number of vehicles on the road has
increased by a factor of 10 the number of calls for cutting traffic