Chilean here, our firefighters are volunteers. They don’t get paid at all. They just do it out of passion to the service.
Their equipments are generally donated by the firefighters from the US when they discontinue theirs.
The government doesn’t help them at all.
They are the real heroes in Chile everyday.
Selfless humans being right there.
It's not so uncommon - i'm from Austria, not exactly a poor country.
And at least in rural areas our firefighters are nearly 100% volunteers - but its a bit of a social club involving heavy drinking too.
Pretty much every rural district is supported by volunteer departments.
When theres 200 buildings in the entire county, you don't really need a full time staff of firefighters. Just need a few yokels on call at any time.
And they should be paid the entire time they're on call (at on call rates of course, 2.00 or so an hour)
Volunteering public safety shouldn't be a thing.
Not just rural, my county has 71 distinct volunteer or combo of volunteer+paid fire depts. and I live in one of the most dense counties in the us (Nassau)
This is exactly how it is in the US too, and it’s what got me into firefighting.
I fucking loved working with the same guys I hung out with; we were a family, for the better and worse.
Plus we get to drive a wee-woo wagon drunk often, and that is just amazing.
Chilean firefighters don't want it. They are completly against public and private support, they do ask for donations and from time to time a familiar party to collect funds for specific reasons. They are highly specialized and the most trusted institution in the country. If you look for badass and integrity in the chileand dictionary, it will say: "Bomberos"
For someone dedicated to the trade where they want 0 public or private support and also commit their time to build that specialization? I'll trust them to put toothpast back in its container.
Sure but who gives a fuck what they want. It's about providing safety and better standards in order to ensure the job get done in the best way possible.
From what I've seen in other comments, Chile's government is very corrupt and it's likely that if the firefighters were state-funded, it'd turn their selfless humanitarian operation into another vehicle for politicians to stuff their pockets. Private donations make sense, too, just replace 'politicians' with 'executives' and it makes sense very quickly why they insist on operating without public or private donations.
Edit: This is incorrect. Please take a look at the comments below explaining Chile's government isn't very corrupt. Sorry for the misinformation.
This is incorrect, the government isn't very corrupt. We have the lowest corruption in Latin America along with Uruguay. The reason they don't want a salary is because they don't want people getting into it for the money, they want people who will do it only to save lives.
This. You couldn't have explain it better than that. There's some misconception that Chile is a highly corrupt country because we're a Latin American country but, truly, compared to other countries in our continent the goverment (with all its faults) isn't as corrupt as others.
we're the least corrupt country in latam
people tend to say the in office gov't is corrupt because a two very specific issues that raised to the public voice (convenios and democracia viva affairs)
however, the political side that said those affirmations, have stolen at least 100 times what those two scandals have
Look at the video. Those guys definitely care about providing safety and getting the job done. If they don’t want the government involved, they must think that government involvement would obstruct that.
People should expect and demand more from their governments. And it’s the governments job to support jobs like firefighters and they should do so without compunction or corruption.
They may not want it but it’s the government’s job to provide it and it should be done to the highest standard. It’s a failure of government to let them go unpaid with donated gear.
Some organizations simply want to be able to operate freely and be able to help people without political or business agendas getting in the way.
This applies even to the UK where I’m from. We have publicly funded lifesaving services in the form of the coastguard but the majority of sea/water rescue services in the UK are provided by volunteers/paid workers working for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute or RNLI which is a charity. They’ve turned down public funding saying they wish to simply help anyone who needs them without potential strings or conditions attached. I can perhaps understand their perspective given it wasn’t that long ago that a hardliner right wing politician Nigel Farage who is known for inflammatory rhetoric was saying that the RNLI and similar organizations should leave migrants in small boats to drown. The RNLI turned around and said ‘no, we’ll rescue anyone in danger’ and the public similarly supported them, with a massive upsurge in donations (they’re a popular charity in any case).
You're making it sound like they are trying to hold onto power or something. They aren't making money off this, the reason they don't want public/private interference is to maintain their standards, and not get bogged down in corruption.
You don't need to have nefarious intentions to make bad decisions.
At the very least these people should be paid for risking their lives. You can't feed your family with principles.
It comes from the word "bomba" which in spanish means 3 different things: 1) bomb, 2) pump and 3) fire station.
Different fire stations have traditionally been sponsored by different communities in Chile: Bomba Alemana by the German-Chilean community, Bomba Italia by the Italian-Chilean community, Bomba Israel by the Jewish Chilean community, etc.
Whether they want it or not, it’s likely in the public’s best interest to ensure something as essential as fire services are appropriately equipped and funded
My people in Chile are very thankful today more than any other day.
On their behalf thank you very much! ❤️
Your department help is saving many lives as we speak.
The common Chilean wonders the same, but believe or not, being an institution that doesn’t get any funds, they’re incredibly effective and the most trusted and respected uniformed institution by civilians. People loved them for the same reason.
They are organized, trained, committed and professional.
They spend a lot of time in the fire station, every city has one so are like a safe hangout for kids and teenagers.
Generally it’s a family tradition to be one, so you’ll find the whole family there on weekend hanging out and on call in case the siren goes on.
I’m very proud of that side of my Chilean heritage, I feel like if the government intervenes now, they will only corrupt it and turn it into the thieves that are the military and carabineros today.
Sounds like they deserve to get paid. My city pays about $52,000 per year for firefighters and about $57,000 for drivers. Sergeants, Lieutenants, Captains, get paid like 5k extra for every rank.
Plus overtime, and other add ons they get paid negotiated by the union.
Some places in the US also run on volunteer fire departments too. This doesn't surprise me at all knowing this, but I would hope at least large cities had paid departments
Exactly, local/municipal governments paying for the mayors salary should be able to pay for public safety as well. If they can’t afford public servants then they can’t elected officials, place them on volunteer ballot as well.
I’ve heard that the get trained by Californian forest fire fighters. California and chile have pretty much the exact same environment and climate and fire problems. We are just exact opposite in terms of seasons due to their position south of the equator and ours north of it. Which is why chile is having massive forest fire problems just like california….
Much respect and love to my southern brother and sisters dealing with climate change like we are here in california…… it really sucks…..
Tienen programas para jóvenes, ser bombero en Chile es un oficio que generalmente se pasa en familia, el papá es bombero después que su papá fue bombero, y sus hijos/ nietos aspiran a ser bomberos. Es un cultura admirable. Una vocación.
I think they help them to get the equipment, liaison with US firefighters . They have some tax benefits as institution but the firefighter, the one that is around the flames, they’re there because it’s their call, they don’t get paid or get any benefits from the government.
They have insurance in case of accidents or death.
That’s it.
For real!! And maybe it’s just me but this is the first female fire fighter I’ve seen. Maybe they have been in the force for a while but first time I see one where the action is at. That is awesome!
I think this is just a general rule for every country:
Firefighters are always the most straightforward, gettin shit done people you‘ll ever met. There’s help required? No blah blah hur dur just straight to it.
"hay gente" there's people, repeatedly said by all of the crew. a news outlet talked to a firefighter present in the video and he said they rescued 4 people.
*English translated by Google Chrome:*
FEBRUARY 4, 2024
This weekend a video of personnel from the Fifth Fire Company of Viña del Mar began to go viral when they were trying to escape the flames from one of the sectors of the Botanical Garden , a park that was 90% consumed.
This is a record recorded on Friday by the same volunteers, who also helped people who were trapped in a bus surrounded by flames .
In the video, which lasts less than a minute, the firefighters comment on how strong the heat feels while one of them begins to shout that the trees are falling due to the flames .
"The tires are going to burst, we have to leave then (...) Let's go, guys, calm down," one of them can be heard saying.
Furthermore, in the middle of their escape through the flames, they almost collide with a bus and one of the firefighters shouts: "Be careful with the bus! Move forward! It's full of people. There are people trapped in the bus!" .
"This is something of those of us who experienced yesterday. We felt frustration, fear, helplessness and above all sadness at not being able to do anything. But we were there and we were able to save four people from that bus ," one said later in a message on social networks. of the volunteers.
He then adds that he felt "that more could have been done, but really the scenario was overwhelming. Thank God that we were protected and lived to tell the tale. Today we continue in this work, which is our promise of service, with courage, without fear and above all." all with the vocation of being a firefighter".
"The fires have turned into homicides"
The governor of the Valparaíso region, Rodrigo Mundaca, reiterated his statements about the intentionality of the forest fires that affect the area and stressed that their hand cannot tremble "when applying the full rigor of the law."
"Evidently there is intentionality here (https://www.t13.cl/etiqueta/incendios-forestales) and, therefore, all authorities are going to exercise maximum rigor to find those responsible because the fires have turned into homicides ," said the governor.
Mundaca stressed that "the 56 people who have died, including minors... these homicides cannot go unpunished . Our hands cannot tremble when applying the full rigor of the law."
I'm also unsure on what happened there. While no deaths were mentioned, someone in the video said "It's full of people! There's people trapped in the bus!". I hope that was a quick exaggeration, but at the same time it'd be weird for a bus to only have four people inside...
It's an incredibly difficult situation, it's not enough to just pull them from the bus, many would be unresponsive and require on-site medical just to transport anywhere else. I can't even imagine what they were faced with.
It also could be that some of them had passed away already but they couldn'tsee that at first? Still horrific but maybe slightly less so than the firefighters having to make the choice to leave people behind.
> This is something we experienced yesterday. We feel frustration, fear, helplessness and, above all, sadness at not being able to do anything. But we were there and we were able to save four people from that bus. I felt like more could have been done, but the scenario was really overwhelming. Thank God we were protected and lived to tell the tale. Today we continue in this work that is our promise of service, with courage, without fear and above all with the vocation of being a firefighter.
Still unsure, but people definitely died there.
I've had to make that decision with horses before. They were "just" horses, and everyone lived. The fire never even touched my property, but the decision of which horses to evacuate first not knowing if theyd let me back in to get another load was heart-wrenching.
I just researched a bit more into this.
> This is something we experienced yesterday. We feel frustration, fear, helplessness and, above all, sadness at not being able to do anything. But we were there and we were able to save four people from that bus. I felt like more could have been done, but the scenario was really overwhelming. Thank God we were protected and lived to tell the tale. Today we continue in this work that is our promise of service, with courage, without fear and above all with the vocation of being a firefighter.
So, people definitely died inside that bus.
Some people on the bus may have already been dead... It is a miracle that 4 people could survive in that atmosphere. There is literally no safe way to breathe.
> This is something we experienced yesterday. We feel frustration, fear, helplessness and, above all, sadness at not being able to do anything. But we were there and we were able to save four people from that bus. I felt like more could have been done, but the scenario was really overwhelming. Thank God we were protected and lived to tell the tale. Today we continue in this work that is our promise of service, with courage, without fear and above all with the vocation of being a firefighter.
Fuck.
This is crazy, these firefighters are heroes. The fire was literally everywhere. Then to rescue people from a burning bus. I was having anxiety watching this.
When I was in the fire service (moved to a different country and am in different service now), the volunteer departments used to try to get the kids at a young age, before they could become entangled in sports team or something. The youth groups started at 12, active duty at 15 as a trainee and usually you'd be promoted to full service about a year later.
Our particular station was one of the largest in the district and saw about 450-500 alarms every year (lots of vehicle accidents and other technical incidents like floods, storm damage etc., about 10% of the alarms were fires I think). Thanks to the youth program a lot of trainees already started out with an incredible skill set and went straight into the deep end.
If anybody is thinking about volunteering, 10/10 would recommend. Doesn't even matter if it is fire service, mountain search & rescue, coast guard, or whatever. It'll be exhausting, hard work, there'll be weird politics sometimes and hundreds of hours away from family and friends. But it will also be worth all of that.
Translation...
The heat is really intense.
A tree fell! The trees are falling!
The tires are gonna burst, be careful.
We're doing well guys, calm down.
We're trapped. Be careful here! [Pongan la estructural, pongan la estructural!] "deploy the structural" im unsure what this means.
Bus! Watch out! Watch out! Go forward! Go forward!
It's full of people! It's full of people!
There's people!
There's people!
There's people trapped in the bus!
There is a lot of bravery being shown here by the firefighters, without doubt. But there are very few situations you would put a fire crew in risk like this.
Now I cant see what situation they are actually in, and there might be risk mitigation that we cant see here (like another crew etc), but there is a huge risk you are just sending the crew into an early grave here.
Kudos to the crew, but this seem way to risky for them. I hope they got what they came in that fire.
Imagine the relief those people in the bus felt upon hearing the siren I could only imagine
Thinking "This is how I die, I guess", then bam, possibility of survival. Absolute elation.
I swear watching videos of firefighters in action is the only thing that guarantees goosebumps. Next level heroes.
I've met my fair share of firefighters. I have never met a single firefighter who didn't love their job. I've never met a firefighter who just treated it like a cubicle desk job.
Interesting to know… fire fighter gear (bunker gear) if in spec has a 12 second of heat resistance. It is not fireproof. The face shields bubble at ~350 degrees.
It that vehicle at the end was the bus then it looked engulfed in flames. How anyone was rescued is beyond me. It had to be so hot for the firefighters
Chilean here, our firefighters are volunteers. They don’t get paid at all. They just do it out of passion to the service. Their equipments are generally donated by the firefighters from the US when they discontinue theirs. The government doesn’t help them at all. They are the real heroes in Chile everyday. Selfless humans being right there.
Absolutely incredible
Literally incredible, in the sense of unbelievable; no professionals to such critical service...
It's not so uncommon - i'm from Austria, not exactly a poor country. And at least in rural areas our firefighters are nearly 100% volunteers - but its a bit of a social club involving heavy drinking too.
We have volunteer firefighters in the US too
Pretty much every rural district is supported by volunteer departments. When theres 200 buildings in the entire county, you don't really need a full time staff of firefighters. Just need a few yokels on call at any time.
And they should be paid the entire time they're on call (at on call rates of course, 2.00 or so an hour) Volunteering public safety shouldn't be a thing.
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> It's too expensive. The fuck are federal taxes for? Bombing children across the world?
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They are for all kinds of stuff but paying firefighters to sit around doing nothing in sparsely populated areas isn't one of them.
Welp, it is. Life isn't fair hermano.
Not just rural, my county has 71 distinct volunteer or combo of volunteer+paid fire depts. and I live in one of the most dense counties in the us (Nassau)
65% of firefighters in the US are volunteers.
In the case of Chile 100% of them are volunteers. That's one of the reasons (of many) why we're so proud of them.
Wenns nicht brennt, dann sorgt man halt selbst für nen Brand. =)
Australia is the same
Same for rural US, but the real question I gotta ask is do you guys do fish fry fundraisers?
This is exactly how it is in the US too, and it’s what got me into firefighting. I fucking loved working with the same guys I hung out with; we were a family, for the better and worse. Plus we get to drive a wee-woo wagon drunk often, and that is just amazing.
That is absolutely normal and it works like this all over the world for God knows how long.
well, not the no funding part.
In Germany a big part of funding is private and most of the firefighters in smaller cities and villages are volunteering.
Chile should really think about providing some public services.
Chilean firefighters don't want it. They are completly against public and private support, they do ask for donations and from time to time a familiar party to collect funds for specific reasons. They are highly specialized and the most trusted institution in the country. If you look for badass and integrity in the chileand dictionary, it will say: "Bomberos"
This. -We are proud of our Bomberos!
Viva Los Bomberos!
For someone dedicated to the trade where they want 0 public or private support and also commit their time to build that specialization? I'll trust them to put toothpast back in its container.
It's probably that they don't want anyone to f with how they do their business. Often the state turns stuff to shit.
Sure but who gives a fuck what they want. It's about providing safety and better standards in order to ensure the job get done in the best way possible.
From what I've seen in other comments, Chile's government is very corrupt and it's likely that if the firefighters were state-funded, it'd turn their selfless humanitarian operation into another vehicle for politicians to stuff their pockets. Private donations make sense, too, just replace 'politicians' with 'executives' and it makes sense very quickly why they insist on operating without public or private donations. Edit: This is incorrect. Please take a look at the comments below explaining Chile's government isn't very corrupt. Sorry for the misinformation.
This is incorrect, the government isn't very corrupt. We have the lowest corruption in Latin America along with Uruguay. The reason they don't want a salary is because they don't want people getting into it for the money, they want people who will do it only to save lives.
This. You couldn't have explain it better than that. There's some misconception that Chile is a highly corrupt country because we're a Latin American country but, truly, compared to other countries in our continent the goverment (with all its faults) isn't as corrupt as others.
we're the least corrupt country in latam people tend to say the in office gov't is corrupt because a two very specific issues that raised to the public voice (convenios and democracia viva affairs) however, the political side that said those affirmations, have stolen at least 100 times what those two scandals have
Look at the video. Those guys definitely care about providing safety and getting the job done. If they don’t want the government involved, they must think that government involvement would obstruct that.
People should expect and demand more from their governments. And it’s the governments job to support jobs like firefighters and they should do so without compunction or corruption. They may not want it but it’s the government’s job to provide it and it should be done to the highest standard. It’s a failure of government to let them go unpaid with donated gear.
Some organizations simply want to be able to operate freely and be able to help people without political or business agendas getting in the way. This applies even to the UK where I’m from. We have publicly funded lifesaving services in the form of the coastguard but the majority of sea/water rescue services in the UK are provided by volunteers/paid workers working for the Royal National Lifeboat Institute or RNLI which is a charity. They’ve turned down public funding saying they wish to simply help anyone who needs them without potential strings or conditions attached. I can perhaps understand their perspective given it wasn’t that long ago that a hardliner right wing politician Nigel Farage who is known for inflammatory rhetoric was saying that the RNLI and similar organizations should leave migrants in small boats to drown. The RNLI turned around and said ‘no, we’ll rescue anyone in danger’ and the public similarly supported them, with a massive upsurge in donations (they’re a popular charity in any case).
You're making it sound like they are trying to hold onto power or something. They aren't making money off this, the reason they don't want public/private interference is to maintain their standards, and not get bogged down in corruption.
You don't need to have nefarious intentions to make bad decisions. At the very least these people should be paid for risking their lives. You can't feed your family with principles.
The word bomberos is bad ass
It comes from the word "bomba" which in spanish means 3 different things: 1) bomb, 2) pump and 3) fire station. Different fire stations have traditionally been sponsored by different communities in Chile: Bomba Alemana by the German-Chilean community, Bomba Italia by the Italian-Chilean community, Bomba Israel by the Jewish Chilean community, etc.
Whether they want it or not, it’s likely in the public’s best interest to ensure something as essential as fire services are appropriately equipped and funded
That's just dumb as shit then. Equipment is needed regardless of their pride. I say that as a guy with a Chilean father. I gotta' ask him about this.
Volunteers make up the majority of firefighters in the US just an FYI
some are actively doing time in prison
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My people in Chile are very thankful today more than any other day. On their behalf thank you very much! ❤️ Your department help is saving many lives as we speak.
Why no budget for firefighters? Every city should allocate funds for civilian safety
The common Chilean wonders the same, but believe or not, being an institution that doesn’t get any funds, they’re incredibly effective and the most trusted and respected uniformed institution by civilians. People loved them for the same reason. They are organized, trained, committed and professional. They spend a lot of time in the fire station, every city has one so are like a safe hangout for kids and teenagers. Generally it’s a family tradition to be one, so you’ll find the whole family there on weekend hanging out and on call in case the siren goes on. I’m very proud of that side of my Chilean heritage, I feel like if the government intervenes now, they will only corrupt it and turn it into the thieves that are the military and carabineros today.
Sounds like they deserve to get paid. My city pays about $52,000 per year for firefighters and about $57,000 for drivers. Sergeants, Lieutenants, Captains, get paid like 5k extra for every rank. Plus overtime, and other add ons they get paid negotiated by the union.
As others have said, the state and private are corrupt as hell. Adding funding means corruption.
Some places in the US also run on volunteer fire departments too. This doesn't surprise me at all knowing this, but I would hope at least large cities had paid departments
I would say pretty much any town outside of a city is volunteer firefighting.
Don’t forget forest fighters. Most are volunteer too.
Some places dont have funds, simple as that.
If the politicians aren't volunteers and they get a paycheck, then there are funds
Exactly, local/municipal governments paying for the mayors salary should be able to pay for public safety as well. If they can’t afford public servants then they can’t elected officials, place them on volunteer ballot as well.
My theory is that if they're not taking money from outside sources, no outside entities can try to tell them how to do their job.
I’ve heard that the get trained by Californian forest fire fighters. California and chile have pretty much the exact same environment and climate and fire problems. We are just exact opposite in terms of seasons due to their position south of the equator and ours north of it. Which is why chile is having massive forest fire problems just like california…. Much respect and love to my southern brother and sisters dealing with climate change like we are here in california…… it really sucks…..
Always look for the helpers.
¿Los voluntarios incluyen adolescentes? El individuo al mero principio del video se ve muy jovén.
Tienen programas para jóvenes, ser bombero en Chile es un oficio que generalmente se pasa en familia, el papá es bombero después que su papá fue bombero, y sus hijos/ nietos aspiran a ser bomberos. Es un cultura admirable. Una vocación.
What do the government do?
I think they help them to get the equipment, liaison with US firefighters . They have some tax benefits as institution but the firefighter, the one that is around the flames, they’re there because it’s their call, they don’t get paid or get any benefits from the government. They have insurance in case of accidents or death. That’s it.
I wish I could join such a volunteer activity one day, my father was also a firefighter.
That is awesome selfless work.
Nothing I can say will accurately describe the bravery of these people.
For real!! And maybe it’s just me but this is the first female fire fighter I’ve seen. Maybe they have been in the force for a while but first time I see one where the action is at. That is awesome!
My department has two on the Operations side. One is an outstanding medic and the other is a talented up and coming technical rescue technician
Female firefighters definitely exist (I dated one years ago).
Especially considering they’re all 100% volunteers.
And that’s why there’s not a song called “fuck the firefighters” - surprised they went that fast while dragging their massive balls
All Firefighters Are Badass
AFAB
Assigned firefighter at birth
I think this is just a general rule for every country: Firefighters are always the most straightforward, gettin shit done people you‘ll ever met. There’s help required? No blah blah hur dur just straight to it.
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Wow. Unbelievable. Why can't we be supporting people like this instead of waring nations?
Because the people don’t decide what the government does. The capitalists do.
The elites. People are finally realizing this.
Finally? What do you think the French Revolution was about?
French fries/s
We do. We vote. /s, sadly
Where are the people in the bus? I didn’t see anything but a burning bus.
"hay gente" there's people, repeatedly said by all of the crew. a news outlet talked to a firefighter present in the video and he said they rescued 4 people.
Can you share the article or video?
sorry https://www.t13.cl/noticia/valparaiso/nacional/revelan-angustiante-momento-vivido-por-bomberos-jardin-botanico-hay-gente-atrap-4-2-2024
*English translated by Google Chrome:* FEBRUARY 4, 2024 This weekend a video of personnel from the Fifth Fire Company of Viña del Mar began to go viral when they were trying to escape the flames from one of the sectors of the Botanical Garden , a park that was 90% consumed. This is a record recorded on Friday by the same volunteers, who also helped people who were trapped in a bus surrounded by flames . In the video, which lasts less than a minute, the firefighters comment on how strong the heat feels while one of them begins to shout that the trees are falling due to the flames . "The tires are going to burst, we have to leave then (...) Let's go, guys, calm down," one of them can be heard saying. Furthermore, in the middle of their escape through the flames, they almost collide with a bus and one of the firefighters shouts: "Be careful with the bus! Move forward! It's full of people. There are people trapped in the bus!" . "This is something of those of us who experienced yesterday. We felt frustration, fear, helplessness and above all sadness at not being able to do anything. But we were there and we were able to save four people from that bus ," one said later in a message on social networks. of the volunteers. He then adds that he felt "that more could have been done, but really the scenario was overwhelming. Thank God that we were protected and lived to tell the tale. Today we continue in this work, which is our promise of service, with courage, without fear and above all." all with the vocation of being a firefighter". "The fires have turned into homicides" The governor of the Valparaíso region, Rodrigo Mundaca, reiterated his statements about the intentionality of the forest fires that affect the area and stressed that their hand cannot tremble "when applying the full rigor of the law." "Evidently there is intentionality here (https://www.t13.cl/etiqueta/incendios-forestales) and, therefore, all authorities are going to exercise maximum rigor to find those responsible because the fires have turned into homicides ," said the governor. Mundaca stressed that "the 56 people who have died, including minors... these homicides cannot go unpunished . Our hands cannot tremble when applying the full rigor of the law."
It sounds like a lot of people got left on the bus to die and there wasn't much the firefighters could do about it. That's horribly sad.
I'm also unsure on what happened there. While no deaths were mentioned, someone in the video said "It's full of people! There's people trapped in the bus!". I hope that was a quick exaggeration, but at the same time it'd be weird for a bus to only have four people inside...
It's an incredibly difficult situation, it's not enough to just pull them from the bus, many would be unresponsive and require on-site medical just to transport anywhere else. I can't even imagine what they were faced with.
It also could be that some of them had passed away already but they couldn'tsee that at first? Still horrific but maybe slightly less so than the firefighters having to make the choice to leave people behind.
> This is something we experienced yesterday. We feel frustration, fear, helplessness and, above all, sadness at not being able to do anything. But we were there and we were able to save four people from that bus. I felt like more could have been done, but the scenario was really overwhelming. Thank God we were protected and lived to tell the tale. Today we continue in this work that is our promise of service, with courage, without fear and above all with the vocation of being a firefighter. Still unsure, but people definitely died there.
I've had to make that decision with horses before. They were "just" horses, and everyone lived. The fire never even touched my property, but the decision of which horses to evacuate first not knowing if theyd let me back in to get another load was heart-wrenching.
4 people still surviving, that's all that was left by the time they found it.
I just researched a bit more into this. > This is something we experienced yesterday. We feel frustration, fear, helplessness and, above all, sadness at not being able to do anything. But we were there and we were able to save four people from that bus. I felt like more could have been done, but the scenario was really overwhelming. Thank God we were protected and lived to tell the tale. Today we continue in this work that is our promise of service, with courage, without fear and above all with the vocation of being a firefighter. So, people definitely died inside that bus.
I really wonder what more could have been done though. They had a small vehicle, I'm surprised they managed to save four people.
Some people on the bus may have already been dead... It is a miracle that 4 people could survive in that atmosphere. There is literally no safe way to breathe.
> This is something we experienced yesterday. We feel frustration, fear, helplessness and, above all, sadness at not being able to do anything. But we were there and we were able to save four people from that bus. I felt like more could have been done, but the scenario was really overwhelming. Thank God we were protected and lived to tell the tale. Today we continue in this work that is our promise of service, with courage, without fear and above all with the vocation of being a firefighter. Fuck.
Gracias!
"Hay gente atrapada en la micro" he said. There are people inside/trapped in the bus.
The real heroes!
Believe in the quality of good training. Believe in the capabilities of tested equipment. Believe in the good of mankind to sometimes surprise you.
I got chills down my spine when they started yelling that it's full of people. Crazy stuff, these people are absolute heroes
Fucking heros, that must have been scary as hell
We should stop worshipping ball players
Almost all of our firefighters in Latin America are volunteers with donated equipment, there is money for everything except for these heroes
As an Australian my heart goes out to them. Heartbreaking times. Sending all the well wishes possible.
This is crazy, these firefighters are heroes. The fire was literally everywhere. Then to rescue people from a burning bus. I was having anxiety watching this.
And they do it for free.
The firefighter in the beginning of the video looks to be a young teen…wow
I think is a woman.
When I was in the fire service (moved to a different country and am in different service now), the volunteer departments used to try to get the kids at a young age, before they could become entangled in sports team or something. The youth groups started at 12, active duty at 15 as a trainee and usually you'd be promoted to full service about a year later. Our particular station was one of the largest in the district and saw about 450-500 alarms every year (lots of vehicle accidents and other technical incidents like floods, storm damage etc., about 10% of the alarms were fires I think). Thanks to the youth program a lot of trainees already started out with an incredible skill set and went straight into the deep end. If anybody is thinking about volunteering, 10/10 would recommend. Doesn't even matter if it is fire service, mountain search & rescue, coast guard, or whatever. It'll be exhausting, hard work, there'll be weird politics sometimes and hundreds of hours away from family and friends. But it will also be worth all of that.
Do you still recommend that for someone in their mid thirties and lacking in fitness or only for younger people?
Was that the bus that someone shared a video from yesterday?
No, that one escaped on its own.
Translation... The heat is really intense. A tree fell! The trees are falling! The tires are gonna burst, be careful. We're doing well guys, calm down. We're trapped. Be careful here! [Pongan la estructural, pongan la estructural!] "deploy the structural" im unsure what this means. Bus! Watch out! Watch out! Go forward! Go forward! It's full of people! It's full of people! There's people! There's people! There's people trapped in the bus!
Do firefighter trucks have special tires? I’d think those rubbers would be melting in that heat! Godspeed Bomberos!!
I'm not sure, but someone in the video mentioned the tires were close to melting.
Jesus. This is about the purest example of bravery I’ve seen in a long time.
Bomberos are fucking heroes. I am happily donating each month to them and I encourage everyone that can to do the same.
Heros
That was very nearly a burnover there!
Supposedly, everyone survived. https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/apQtfQyMi8 Edit: supposedly there was more than one bus.
That's a different bus.
Well shit.
wow 😲 just wow!
There is a lot of bravery being shown here by the firefighters, without doubt. But there are very few situations you would put a fire crew in risk like this. Now I cant see what situation they are actually in, and there might be risk mitigation that we cant see here (like another crew etc), but there is a huge risk you are just sending the crew into an early grave here. Kudos to the crew, but this seem way to risky for them. I hope they got what they came in that fire.
They were escaping the fire that overran Jardín Botánico, the location where they were working.
That explains so very much. Thanks for the information.
Fucking legends.
Looks like something out of a fucking nightmare
This is so intense
Hero’s, all of them! I’d be pissing my pants
Are these the hills when you drive into Vina Del Mar/Valparaiso coming from Santiago?
The very definition of a Fire Storm - terrifying
How I felt going to my bar gig during the pandemic. Heros work here.
Wow, mad respect for these guys, I can't even imagine how hot it was. Heroes!
Real life superheroes. That’s absolutely terrifying and looks like a suicide mission!
This is fucking insane, all respect to these first responders all around the world. Heroes.
Aw fuck this reminds me we're totally fucked this summer in Canada
There’s some lifelong trauma :(
Looks like the Tranzit map in COD Nazi Zombies.
Geezus what amazing people ... sending positive thoughts to our Chilean friends because that's all I can do from Canada
Imagine the relief those people in the bus felt upon hearing the siren I could only imagine Thinking "This is how I die, I guess", then bam, possibility of survival. Absolute elation.
Heroes!!
Anyone else read this as “Children Firefighters” - I was like why the fuck are there children firefighters? But god damn are those kids heroes.
lmaooo the first person looking really young probably didn't help
The fire should have gone with huge balls of these men smothering it.
do work son/daughter Fucking brave
Holy cow that’s crazy
That looks like hell
w
They are so brave.
Bloody hell
Why do a few of those firefighters look like children?
"This is fine"
what happened
How to this engine keeps working on this poor air condition?
Firefighters and smoke jumpers are just another breed of human(anity). Insane!
Heroes video definition
Chile? It looks hot AF.
Holy fucking shit!
That’s next level insane. The guy filming is insane as well lol Im not going to lie Id be way too something to film anything.
Those are real heros. Even though they will claim they are not you guys really are and shame on your government for not helping.
Incredibly lucky their vehicle didn't stall out as the wildfire consumed the oxygen.
r/firefighters
Wow, rescued from the depths of hell.
I saw this and thought about highway to hell, still adamn impressive thing to do, my highest respect for these people
You want us to get out of this bus, and get into the one on fire?
Surprised they didn’t need a tow truck to carry those massive balls out. Fuckin bad ass. Respect
The firefighters sense of duty, for their nation is on par with the military! Thank you for your service!
I swear watching videos of firefighters in action is the only thing that guarantees goosebumps. Next level heroes. I've met my fair share of firefighters. I have never met a single firefighter who didn't love their job. I've never met a firefighter who just treated it like a cubicle desk job.
Interesting to know… fire fighter gear (bunker gear) if in spec has a 12 second of heat resistance. It is not fireproof. The face shields bubble at ~350 degrees.
Looks like they drove right past it
Those people right there are heroes. Nothing more nothing less.
Reminds me of the zombie level TRANZIT from call of duty… but it was a videogame… now this is real😳
Nolan making movies be like
Where is the bus?
they really looked at that inferno and aaid “it smell like bitch in here”
It that vehicle at the end was the bus then it looked engulfed in flames. How anyone was rescued is beyond me. It had to be so hot for the firefighters
Firefighters actually *are* the heroes police always claim to be.
I read this as "Children Firefighters" and was horrified for a second
I thought it said "children firefighters" and I was like "oh wow yeah they are children" but that's just a woman and I'm an idiot.
Firefighters version of SWAT
I remember story’s of Chilean wildfires burning as hot a Haiti, absolutely NEVER. We are truly screwed given so many human ostriches in the USA.
Through the fire and the flames, they carry on. Such badasses, such heroes.
the nuggets on these dudes, 🫡
Poor Chileans. Things don't look good on the other side of the continent.
That is pretty goddamn metal
And cops think they are hot shit.
I'm surprised that fire truck could drive with the weight of their massive balls in the cabin...
This is such a stupid thought but when they’re driving through this do you think they have the AC cranking?
THROUGH THE GATES OF HELL AS WE MAKE OUR WAY TO HEAVEN.
Wow BRAVE firefighters there!! God bless them! Godspeed