In a world hurting for heroes, we always have firemen and women.  In Paris, they are legends, with their sleek physiques, military discipline, and shiny chrome helmets.  Recruited from the army's best and brightest, they are, of course, all engineering graduates, a revered profession in France.

The Paris Fire Brigade (Brigade des Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris), is a unit of the French Army that fights fires in our town, and with 8,500 firemen and women, it is the fourth largest fire department in the world, behind Tokyo, New York, and London.

Tickets to the various "fireman's balls," held from 9 p.m. on the 13th of July, and until 4 a.m on the 14th, Bastille Day, are only 2€ a pop, and the raffle prizes include week-long Mediterranean voyages, portable PCs, and lots of fire detectors.