The spirit of service and professionalism have been constant throughout the time of existence of the body. An example is the performance of the Barcelona Fire Brigade during the civil war. The numerous outings during these years of bombing helped minimize the damage suffered by the city and the citizens while maintaining the equipment and the capacity for action intact during those years of shortages. Despite this exercise of professionalism, once the confrontations finished and Franco’s troops occupied the city, a good part of the body of firefighters underwent depurations. Just like this hidden and often dark face that marks the signs of time, the reality and circumstances of the firefighter’s work are not always how we figure…
The Barcelona Firefighters’ health service was pioneering in Spain. It was the first non-hospital health service. In the old times, the firefighter himself made the rescue and the first relief. From 1929 on, due to the professionalization of the body, they realized that they needed a health service to help the victims and their colleagues who also suffered injuries during the interventions. During that time, the firefighters made first aid courses and during the 50s and 60s they began to train as health workers. Thereafter, medical ambulances were incorporated into the car fleet. In 1979, graduates in nursing, medical media technicians (TMS) were incorporated in Bombers de Barcelona and it is not until 1986, to a new call for TMS, when the first women were incorporated into the Fire Department.
The health work is the most unknown of the firefighters Service. The TMS, like the other firefighters, intervene in the proceedings. They do rescue in difficult situations. Whenever there is an injured person the TMS must enter and intervene: they attend the injured, they do the necessary treatments and they stabilize the wounded until they can go outside and be transferred to the hospital.
On Christmas Day 1962 a heavy snowfall occurred in Catalonia, affecting especially the Vallès, Maresme, Barcelonès and Baix Llobregat areas.
This exceptional snowfall surprised the city of Barcelona that was not prepared for a similar situation. The city did not have a snowplow that had to be requested from Andorra and the citizens did not have snow chains to circulate.
During those days the Barcelona Fire Brigade had to carry out many and very unusual services- such as accompanying a pregnant woman to a hospital that had been isolated by the snow. In the mechanics workshops of the fire stations, firefighters began producing snow chains to facilitate the mobility of the population.
On September 7, 1976, the elevator of the Columbus monument broke and fell down . Luckily, at that time the elevator was empty but 13 people were trapped 55 meters high, in the Colón viewpoint.
The situation was serious, because the Fire Brigade did not have mechanical means to reach this height. That was a true creativity test for the Barcelona Fire Brigade.
The Firefighters decided to climb up the elevator hole with the help of a hook ladder subjected to elevator guides that were 4 meters one to each other. To save the trapped people, a platform was installed in the middle of the elevator hole, thus saving the long distance and being able to use the rescue material. Two firefighters in real good shape and great gymnasts were chosen to climb. The ascension was complicated due to the lack of grips where the stairs were anchored and the amount of grease inside the elevator hole. Finally, a single firefighter accomplished the ascent and was able to raise the materials of rescue to help and rescue the trapped people.
