Magazine: Fire and Water

View transcript: Magazine: Fire and Water

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Magazine: “FIRE AND WATER” / About the work of firefighters /

1. Disturbing pictures of major fires / burning high rises / arson in forests / The fire of Lisbon

2. The fire extinguishers of Kiev /

3. The technique of dousing fires / How effective is water for fire attacks on old towns? /

4. From Buderus oven No. 355 to “world fire” (1914 - 1918) / Prometheus - - /

5. “Hearts on fire” /

6. The “inflammable fireman” in Halle - -

Section 1
Pictures of ovens, fires and shattering mass fires (00:00:52-1)
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Lighting the Buderus oven 355 during the cold winter of 1946 - -
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Emperor Nero sings about the burning of Rome - -
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Alarm among the mounted firefighters / Fire at a nuclear plant
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Chernobyl after the fire - -
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On February 1st, 1974 a fire started on the 12th floor of the 25-floor Joelma highrise in São Paolo, Brasil, keeping hundreds of office workers trapped on the upper floors / The layout of the building barely included any emergency exits / Inflammable synthetics and paint had been used for floors and windows; and on top of that, São Polo only had 13 fire departments, despite a population of 6 million - -
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The ladders were much too short, and when the flames raged through the upper floors, desperate people jumped out of the windows / For two hours, the helicopters did not manage to get to the building - -
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Troy, burning - -
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The mountain forests at the Mediterranean sea were set on fire by arsonists at 15 different spots - -
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The wind, with a speed of about 200 km/h, fuels the fire - -
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The Earthquake of Lisbon came with a conflagration / All Saints Day 1755 / 60,000 dead / Voltaire describes nature as “inhumane” - -
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9 am - -
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The same place, 233 years later: The second time Lisbon’s old town is destroyed
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Darmstadt’s night of horrors - -
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Two hostile bomb squadrons meet over the center of the city / First they throw explosive bombs to “roughen up the construction” / Then they throw fire bombs on the damaged roofs - -
Section 2
Heiner Müller on the subject of the dramatic effect of fire and water (00:08:54-4)
Kluge
If you had to describe “the dramatic effect of fire” – what is dramatic about it? Is it dramatic?
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Heiner Müller, playwright
Müller
Well, off the cuff I would say it is not dramatic.
Kluge
And water?
Müller
Water is probably more dramatic, because it is slower.
Kluge
Slower, unstoppable.
Müller
… unstoppable, yes. And strangely, fire is rather epic, for me.
Kluge
It also has to feed, by the way …
Müller
Yes.
Kluge
That means, fire would correspond to armies of a Blitzkrieg or Wallenstein’s armies, which have to feed off the land, and when they run out of gas, or food, or their motivation or their patriotism, then they implode. Water, on the other hand, basically does not need additional material to express itself.
Müller
The image of the apocalypse as fire actually only exists in Germanic mythology, as far as I know - I’m sure my knowledge is probably incomplete. Otherwise, it is always water.
Section 3
Alexei S. Antonov – “The fire extinguisher of Kiev” (00:10:17-5)
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  1. The fire extinguishers of Kiev - -
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It happened in Kiev in summer 1941 - -
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The comrades of the motorized firefighter brigade
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The German experts from the army group South - -
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When the German troops had surrounded the city of Kiev in a wide circle in summer 1941, the motorized firefighter brigades escaped eastward across the river /But when the brigades cast a final glance at the burning city, they were overwhelmed by love for their country / They turned the vehicles around and drove back through the German lines into the intersections of their home town, to douse the fires - -
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Excerpts from an interview with the commander of the motorized firefighter brigade, Alexei S. Antonov - -
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This interview was conducted by I. Jagorski, from the Agitprop department of the Red Army, a Trotskyist in disguise - -
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J.: Is it not in accordance with a higher socialist ethic, to hurry across enemy lines to the fire source, to extinguish it completely and with precision?
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A.: I would say that socialist ethics represent an especially high virtue, but there was no room for it under the given circumstances.
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J.: Love for the home country, the entrusted city is an acknowledged part of socialist ethics. Was that not part of your motivation?
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A.: I doubt that there was any opportunity. Socialist ethics, the highest of values, is basically put center stage. You need a room for that, time to call the assembly together, opening, presentation etc – - there was no time for any of that to happen - -
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J.: Did you later get compensated for your commitment?
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A.: No.
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J.: Did people not find out what you had accomplished?
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A.: It was an isolated demonstration of life, not an accomplishment - -
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J.: Weren’t you scared of being captured, or shot at by the advancing German troops, of walking into their trap?
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A.: We didn’t look.
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J.: But you could see that the advancing troops were German?
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Well yes, we drove right past them. .
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J.: How did the Germans react?
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A.: Surprised. Somewhat stymied - -
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J.: Did they shoot?
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A.: No. It was obvious that we were heading for the bridges.
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J.: You mean, the Germans secretly approved of your drive, 216 vehicles marked with red stars and heading towards the city?
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A.: They stopped, called out, but we were already past them, like a single vehicle.
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J.: But the entire gang?
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A.: That probably caused some confusion - -
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J.: But you said you weren’t even looking?
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A.: We saw the fire, which we still kept an eye on from a distance of 5 km.
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J.: So your eyes didn’t have time to make observations?
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A.: No. On the one hand, debris, craters, keeping up with the speed of the group, on the other hand, keeping an eye on the target, which wasn’t even visible anymore because of all the details.
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J.: So you couldn’t say what the Germans were thinking, how they reacted?
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A.: Yes, we could. We watched their posture, to be able to react immediately - -
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Comrade Antonov
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A.: The head, as seat of one’s conscience, trails behind the events.
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J.: Would it not have been possible, in that sense, to drive the German troops out of Kiev?
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A.: Absolutely. We had basically the upper hand outside Kiev - -
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The end
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Kiev Kiev
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J.: And why were you not available anymore?
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A.: We lost our purpose.
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J.: You were suspended?
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A.: No. We were in the steppe. There was nothing to extinguish.
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J.: They took your fuel vouchers away?
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A.: We drove 300 km. We managed to refuel. In the flat countryside there was no work for a combined firefighting brigade.
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J.: What did you do?
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A.: We were heading for Kryvyi Rih.
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J.: And your plan was?
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A.: To maintain the value of the brigade. In a village, a combined brigade of 216 fire trucks and support vehicles does not serve any purpose. A village wouldn’t be able to burn as much as we would be able to douse - -
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J.: So you disbanded?
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A.: That would have ruined the value of the firefighting combine – which was exactly what we were trying to maintain.
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J.: And why didn’t you make it to Kryvyi Ri? Did you run out of gas?
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A.: No. We got as much as we wanted. The depots were happy to get rid of the gas.
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J.: So you were able to drive.
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A.: We had second thoughts in the steppe.
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J.: What about?
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A.: About the inner value of a collective firefighting brigade. We disbanded.
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J.: Too bad.
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Yes, we felt the same way. But we couldn’t control our doubts in the flat, wide countryside - -
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Firefighter Antonov - -
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Firefighter G.
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J.: You mean, the Germans secretly approved of your drive, 216 vehicles marked with red stars and heading towards the city?
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A.: They stopped, called out, but we were already past them, like a single vehicle.
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J.: But the entire gang?
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A.: That probably caused some confusion - -
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The firefighter brigade Kiev, a motorized special task force, was withdrawn from the city after the Germans had surrounded the city in 1941 /
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When the firemen saw their hometown burning across the river, they lost their heads and drove back across enemy lines to douse the fires /
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Commander Alexej S. Antonov talks to journalist I. Jagorski - -
Section 4
Commissioner Boer about the big fire in Halberstadt in 1945 (00:24:32-8)
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The technique of dousing / Commissioner Boer reports: / “How useful is water during fire attacks on old towns?”
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Lightning strikes a highrise, 1972
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The deployment of firefighters during an air raid - -
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“The first attack is flown to exhaust the firefighters and the extinguishment resources - - "

Air marshal Harris

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Report about the great fire after the bombing raid on Halberstadt on April 8, 1945
Boer
This firestorm could not simply be controlled by the firefighters, it was absolutely impossible, I think.
Kluge
What is a firestorm?
Boer
It is, I think, a huge fire front that keeps inexorably devouring everything, especially in the areas where it finds nourishment, in the residential areas … […]
Kluge
And it creates the stack-effect.
Boer
Right, the stack-effect, over and over, again and again, it […]
Kluge
… sucks in oxygen, yes.
Boer
Yes, and the most important thing is that the inflammable materials are also thermally treated, that means, that ignition is possible. You cannot light a briquette with a match, or a piece of wood, that requires a certain energy, and the high thermal energy set free here causes the thermal treatment of the next inflammable material, so that a constant ignition is possible. There is no stopping it.
Kluge
So, if you light an oven? A Buderus oven, for instance. Then you would first create heat …
Boer
Right.
Kluge
That is why you light some paper first …
Boer
… or you light coal […]
Kluge
… to create a certain temperature, and then finally I can light the briquette with a match […]
Boer
Yes, then it would … well, if you get it started with paper, to a point where you can directly light a briquette …
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Commissioner Boer
Boer
… that is possible. The most important thing is that the following material always already has the required temperature, because it is not the object itself that burns, the solid material, but the inflammable gas that is created, the gas burns because of these thermal processes. It is not the wood that burns, but basically the oils that are set free, liquium and what else is in there. And coal works the same way, what’s burning is aeriform carbonate and not the coal itself, and that’s how it works with other things as well.
Kluge
And now that is … the city turns into material, preheated material, right? With a chimney upwards where the airflow goes […]
Boer
Right, the oxygen is sucked in from everywhere […]
Kluge
And that is basically like a pyre …
Boer
Like a pyre. And those things are basically unstoppable. You would have to use so much water, to

eliminate this new effect, the thermal treatment of the inflammable material, to cool off this material.

Boer
In that town, the entire fire water supply was ruined, the water lines were destroyed, and from the area […]
Kluge
There was still a little water in the public pool, but the pool was emptied very fast.
Boer
Yes, that was the only thing that was […]
Kluge
And from the area of the tributary Holtemme, water was sucked up, and there was a number of wells in town that were used as well, but all that is not enough to maintain a stable water supply. On top of that, the collapsing buildings fell on the laid out hoses, which were destroyed by burning beams. The operation that was led from the West, over the Schmiedestraße, mainly served the purpose of keeping open a lane for evacuating the population, especially from the old town. And I think it worked very well, at least in literature it is described that way, as well as the […]
Kluge
The people were streaming into this lane, from Breitenweg, from Hohenweg …
Boer
Along the lane.
Kluge
…that was formed by water.
Boer
Exactly.
Kluge
They built a water muffler with many pipes, I think.
Boer
They basically built a water front. The water front was basically there to make sure that the thermal energy would not prevent access to that area, and of course that took a lot of effort, if you consider how much water you need to build a water front like this. So I think …
Kluge
How much do you need?
Boer
… I think they had to use a fire pipe basically every 20 meters, to build up this front. In regard to length, I can imagine that there must have been at least 15 to 20 pipes at work, to keep this lane for the evacuation of the citizens open.
Kluge
A gate into the fire, so to speak.
Boer
Yes, it is sealed off, they basically create a water seal that the citizens can slip through.
Kluge
Then there was a second attack from the Lichten Graben. And the St. Florian Hotel, the building still exists today, it was rebuilt. St. Florian […]
Boer
… the patron saint of firefighters.
Kluge
Spare my house, light others, right. That was the border of the fire.
Boer
Yes, that is the border of the fire, thank God.
Kluge
How did you do it?
Boer
Well, a lot … it was certainly partly also due to the buildings in that area themselves that the fire

died down there. There was not that much fuel available anymore. The second reason is, that the firefighters …

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Commissioner Boer
Boer
… had time to form an attack from the direction of the current old town, because it was not that extremely affected by the bombs, so there were only a few fires there, while the entire upper town was on fire, it was a huge seat of fire, and people took advantage of the possibility to come up with firefighting measures, purposefully, strategically speaking.
Kluge
It was possible to focus on it.
Boer
That was the main focus, yes.
Kluge
And you could get there with vehicles. And the corner houses had not been flattened by explosive bombs before. After all, the purpose of an air raid is to cut off access with explosive bombs … […]
Boer
To open the roofs …
Kluge
… to open the roofs, to prevent access for the firefighters. To close off the corners.
Boer
That’s correct.
Kluge
…and then fire bombs on top. .
Boer
… sadly, yes. The human brain has come up with it, and it works, as could be seen in Dresden and Halberstadt and in other towns, of course, where they opened up surfaces by opening the roofs and uncovering the inflammable materials: equipment, the interior of the apartments, and then suddenly came the firebombs, with the …
Kluge
…intelligence of medieval torturers, like a pyre to burn witches …
Boer
Right.
Kluge
… is built. It is basically the same form of intelligence.
Boer
Right.
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  1. From Buderus oven No. 355 to “world fire” (1914 - 1918) /

Franz Kafka and Heiner Müller about Prometheus and fire - -

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Lighting the Buderus oven 355 in the cold winter of 1946 - -
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From Buderus oven No. 355 to “world fire” - -
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“World fire” (1914 – 18)
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firefighter Sergei as a young man
Section 5
Heiner Müller about Kafka, Prometheus and Feuer (00:35:39-4)
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In ancient times, Prometheus is said to have brought fire to humankind / The gods punished him severely for his betrayal - -
Müller
“Prometheus. There are four legends concerning Prometheus: According to the first he was clamped to a rock in the Caucasus for betraying the secrets of the gods to men, and the gods sent eagles to feed on his liver, which was perpetually renewed. According to the second Prometheus, goaded by the pain of the tearing beaks, pressed himself deeper and deeper into the rock until he became one with it. According to the third his treachery was forgotten in the course of thousands of years, forgotten by the gods, the eagles, forgotten by himself.”
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Franz Kafka / Heiner Müller on the subject of Prometheus - -
Müller
“According to the fourth everyone grew weary of the meaningless affair. The gods grew weary, the eagles grew weary, the wound closed wearily.”
Müller
The first thing I notice is that Kafka does not mention fire. And thinking of my own Prometheus text, the one in my play “Cement,”, fire doesn’t make an appearance there either, only in the form of lightning.
Kluge
And why?
Müller
I don’t know. But if you ask me about fire, I can only think of lightning, of course. And I remember that as a child, I once walked home from the public pool, in a village in Saxony. There was a thunderstorm, a horrible thunderstorm, lightning struck. A farmhouse was burning because it had been struck by lightning. Fire without lightning just hasn’t occurred to me yet.
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  1. Mayakovsky and the firefighters: How do you douse “hearts on fire”? / From the anthology “CLOUD IN PANTS” that Mayakovsky published in 1914 - -
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„Every word / be it even a joke / that his scorched mouth belches out / Mother, / leaps like a naked whore through the smoke / out of a burning brothel ! /“
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„People sniff – something’s frying. / A brigade comes in helmets and suits / of asbestos / Look out with your boots, Messrs. Firemen / HEARTS ON FIRE / should be handled with caresses!”
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„Wait, / I’ll roll out my tearfilled eyes for watertubs / Just let me gain hold on my ribs / Stand by; / I’ll escape, though escape be torturous. / They’ve collapsed! / THIS HEART HOLDS ME FAST IN ITS GRIPS."
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Vladimir Mayakovsky
Section 6
About firefighters in Halle (00:39:55-3)
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  1. The “inflammable fireman” in Halle - -
Fireman
Good morning!
All firemen
Morning!
Voice-over
6:30am. Morning roll call at the fire department in Halle. Every day the same, favorite ritual.
Voice-over
Things used to be more disciplined around here. But no one wants to hear about that anymore. Times of change, even for the firefighters.
Bauer
Before the fall of the wall, it was definitely more militaristic.
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Peter Bauer, chief of the station
Bauer
There used to be roll calls in the fire department, just like in the army. On Fridays people lined up early in the morning, saluting, according to military custom, and after the fall of the wall, they got rid of that. We don’t do that anymore. We greet each other normally, like any other workers.
Voice-over
The old primary control unit will soon be outdated. Soon, the latest model of a primary control unit in the Federal Republic is going to be commissioned here, and of course it is going to be computerized. Apparently this jewel is going to cost more than 2 million Marks. Many think it is scandalous, simply because there is not enough money for the most basic necessities. The old uniforms, for instance, you won’t believe it, but they are inflammable.
Interviewer
So are you scared when you get a call?
Fireman 1
If I were scared, I would not be a fireman.
Fireman 2
No, nothing has happened so far. That’s why we are supposed to wear the undergarments, additional long underwear, but barely anyone does that. We act at our own risk.
Voice-over
The inflammable fireman. More than 200 men bear the risk here every day, and no one knows for how much longer.
Voice-over
Around 10 am, the first deployment. A car accident is reported. Gas has leaked. The firefighters are called more and more often to this kind of incident. There follows a long odyssey to the location of the accident. Coordination issues. The accident is merely a bagatelle. The firefighters can help. They were lucky.
Interviewer
But if something really serious had happened, you’d been too late.
Fireman
That’s a possibility, but something we have to live with.
Voice-over
The firefighters also have to live with the chaos on the roads of the new federal states. Way too many cars, on much too narrow roads. Even the firefighters can’t get through here. And once in a while they even stand in their own way.
Voice-over
At the scene. At least the police and the emergency doctor are already there. And then things get hectic. There is a smell of gas, the risk of explosion. A 55-year-old man has killed himself. The reasons are unknown. One of many suicides in the new East.
Interviewer
Are you used to encountering dead people every day as a firefighter?
Fireman 1
Sure. Of course.
Fireman 2
Well, not every day, but it does happen occasionally.
Fireman 2
Sometimes it is an accident, and sometimes it is the weird situation nowadays …. let’s say: unemployment and so on, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you about it.
Voice-over
It is a quiet afternoon. Playing cards in the lounge is on the schedule. And outside there is a game without limits going on. A relict from glorious socialist days: the exercise of the fire-fighting crew.
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Captain Peter Nauendorf
Nauendorf
Here, an extinguishing action is taking place – a discipline that was very important for firefighters in the former GDR.
Voice-over
A sport, and at the same time practice for an emergency. Target shooting. Protests used to be broken up by force like this on orders of the police, because back then, the firefighters were under the control of the Ministry of the Interior.
Voice-over
And then, in the late afternoon, a fire is reported. It is like in the morning, the firetrucks don’t manage to get through, but luckily, there is another, smaller station in Halle.
Voice-over
When we finally arrive, the fire is mostly under control.
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Magazine: “FIRE AND WATER” / About the work of firefighters / 1. Disturbing pictures of major fires /
Voice-over
We were lucky.
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Burning high rises / arson in forests / The fire of Lisbon / 2. The fire extinguishers of Kiev / 3. The technique of dousing / How useful is water during fire attacks on old towns? / 4. From Buderus oven No. 355 to “world fire” (1914 - 1918) / Prometheus - - / 5. “Hearts on fire” / 6. The “inflammable fireman” in Halle - -