Their names are Thierry, Jean-François, Sylvain and Eric… They are firefighters in the 13th company of the Paris Fire Brigade. Created on January 1, 1968, it was one of the first companies established in the Paris suburbs. Today spread across 3 barracks, located in difficult neighborhoods of Seine-Saint-Denis (Aulnay-sous-Bois, Tremblay-en-France and Le Blanc-Mesnil), 200 firefighters are on the front line facing the problems of the suburbs: delinquency, social poverty and precariousness. For several months, we shared their daily lives and their often extraordinary missions in constant contact with an often marginalized population. Nearly 35,000 interventions per year, most often in a difficult context, to help the inhabitants of one of the poorest departments in France. There are of course the burned cars almost every night, the arson of building cages or dilapidated apartments rented by slumlords. But not only. You will discover the behind the scenes of these working-class neighborhoods, made up entirely of buildings built in the 1970s. Here 135 nationalities live side by side, more than 30% of households live below the poverty line with less than 1000 euros per month. The daily life of the inhabitants: settling of scores between drug traffickers, spectacular accidents, notably young people who ride without helmets and engage in wild rodeos, sometimes on the handlebars of stolen scooters. With real drama to boot. Finally, you will see that the 93 firefighters are sometimes mobilized on very surprising missions. Like this chase after a rather unexpected outlaw… a monkey who has escaped and is spreading terror in the neighborhood!
