I never dreamed that I would become a rescue diver for the Brigade des Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris, the city’s fire brigade. I wanted to work in genetics, and after my father, a fire fighter, had a bad accident, I swore I’d never join the brigade – not in a million years.
But the Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris is actually part of the French army – Napoleon established it as a military corps in 1811 – and I ended up joining the army after my baccalaureat. As I’ve always been a good swimmer, one thing led to another and in 2007 I switched from the main army to dive with the pompiers, much to my dad’s surprise. You can’t really say I followed in his footsteps though, because rescue diving is very different from fire fighting.
The Brigade is split into fire fighters, paramedics and water specialists (which includes rescue diving). Our diving corps was developed because Paris’s busy, murky waterways are accidents waiting to happen. Last year we fished out about 170 people – more than 30 of them would have died without us. It’s a risky job; but wholly satisfying – not just when you save someone’s life but because every day I get to dive in parts of the city people don’t usually see.