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Firefighter

Firefighter Neil Fairhall is leaving his fire station in Hayward's Heath and heading to the Amazon to fight some of the biggest forest fires in the world.

Firefighter Neil Fairhall is leaving his fire station in Hayward's Heath and heading to the Amazon to fight some of the biggest forest fires in the world. While a lot of a British firefighters' time is spent attending small fires and false alarms, during the dry season in Mato Grosso state, the Jatoba Fire Brigade, part of Alianca da Terra, can work for four days at a time trying to save the forest from fire.

As Neil trains and works with fire chief Edimar Dos Santos Abreu and his crew, he learns that the blazes are often started deliberately in order to clear the forest for illegal agriculture and that this now represents the single biggest threat to the Amazon. It is tough and brutal work as a team of just five men work across an area the size of England in a seemingly hopeless battle. But now they are enlisting the help of the local indigenous people whose way of life is threatened by the encroaching fires and Neil flies to the heart of the jungle to help train local warriors in firefighting techniques.

1 hour

Last on

Thu 20 Jun 201300:20

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The Producer's Story

"In Britain a simple 999 call would bring fire engines roaring to the scene. But here rounding up the fire crew was a different story altogether."

Producer Karen Walsh on what unifies firefighters from different sides of the globe

Credits

RoleContributor
Executive ProducerSam Bagnall
Executive ProducerSam Bagnall
Series ProducerSimon Watts-Davies
Series ProducerSimon Watts-Davies
DirectorKaren Walsh
DirectorKaren Walsh
ProducerKaren Walsh
ProducerKaren Walsh

Broadcasts

  • Sun 24 Mar 201321:00
  • Mon 25 Mar 201323:20
  • Tue 26 Mar 201300:20
  • Thu 20 Jun 201300:20

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Profiles of two firefighters with very different lives