At the end of each year, French firefighters (or sapeurs-pompiers) go from door to door to offer their annual calendar. They always come in two, and the ritual is the same each year.
Pompier #1 gives you the free calendar, and pompier #2 holds a bag in front of your nose, waiting for a donation.
I don’t know what the common rate is, but I usually give them in the region of 10 euros. After all, these guys (and 10% girls!) do a great job.
The total number of pompiers in France is around a quarter of a million. Twenty percent of them are professionals or military. The remaining 200,000 are volunteers, who give their spare time to get trained for many difficult challenges, and are always available to drop their daily work, and come to the rescue of people in danger.
On average, French pompiers deal with 3.6 million emergencies per year, or about 10,000 every day. (That’s one emergency every 9 seconds!) Ten percent of those cases involve a fire, another ten percent traffic accidents, and in sixty percent they provide general first aid to victims.
This year, French firefighters rescued 1.5 million people, but at a cost: 19 pompiers lost their lives doing their work.
I have no idea what they do with the money I give them. As far as I’m concerned they can spend it on a good Christmas party. They deserve it.
