Paris brûle-t-il ?
Monday, September 21, 2009 Posted by Eric Tenin
I eye witnessed two fires this weekend... One at Le Grand Orient head quarter (the largest Freemasonry obedience in France) which happens to be right by my house and La Taverne, a restaurant also located in the 9th arrondissement at Boulevard des Italiens, where I took this photo. Both of them were pretty serious but no one was injured. I took advantage of this photo to do a little research on the web and I found interesting stats: the number of fires by arrondissement in 2008. Have a look.
September 21, 2009 12:02:00 AM GMT+02:00
Very dramatic photo, Eric! I'm glad to hear no one was hurt, of course. Lots of smoke here—hope you didn't inhale any!
September 21, 2009 12:05:00 AM GMT+02:00
Just checked out your link. Looks like the higher the number (of arrondissement), the higher the number (of fires). I'll be looking for a place in the 3rd, I think.
September 21, 2009 12:07:00 AM GMT+02:00
Just one more thing: Is it me, or are pompiers good-looking all around the globe?
September 21, 2009 12:13:00 AM GMT+02:00
interesting contrast of smoke and people. Glad no one was hurt.
Alexa you have not seen the pompiers in the USA's small towns. Some are... well fed, to be polite.
I hear the Parisian pompiers are highly photogenic and appear in calendars. And I want one! lol
September 21, 2009 12:34:00 AM GMT+02:00
Wren, you want a calendar? or a pompier?
September 21, 2009 12:36:00 AM GMT+02:00
Eric next time you witness something (dramatic) like that don't stand so close to the smoke. it's no good dear and we want you safe and sound, always!
September 21, 2009 1:04:00 AM GMT+02:00
alexa..i second that pompiers, bomberos, firefighter call them what you may, they are all very WOW so hot okay...handsome. perhaps its the damsel in distress in me, but i always feel so safe when i am around them. here where i live, we have had a very bad fire season. we lost three fire fighters - it was very sad.
September 21, 2009 1:15:00 AM GMT+02:00
Sue, I'll take both! Especially a pompier who is in a calendar!
September 21, 2009 1:43:00 AM GMT+02:00
I am in the process of planning a long overdue trip to Paris (either later this year or early next year) and thought I should drop by and check out what you've been up to. I'm glad I did. Your photos and texts have made the prospect of handing over a sizable chunk of my savings to a travel agent a far less disagreeable prospect. ... Thanks for keeping up the great work, Eric. {:-})
September 21, 2009 1:49:00 AM GMT+02:00
You a really good shot!
September 21, 2009 2:02:00 AM GMT+02:00
Another action shot from our journalist on the spot. :) A lot seems to happen 'right by your house' and 'right by your office' doesn't it Eric? lol! Do you reckon it's all a ploy to get a spot on the camera of Eric Tenin, PDP?
September 21, 2009 2:07:00 AM GMT+02:00
Cool photo. I like their shiny helmets and I'm intrigued by their hose contraption. I've never seen anything like that here in the US.
Alexa - I think its the non-volunteer firemen who are in the best fighting trim. But, its the huge number of volunteer firefighters in America that saves our country from immolation each year.
September 21, 2009 2:09:00 AM GMT+02:00
Hmmmm, Lynn, you seem to be on to something - three fires and broken water main that I can think of off the top of my head. If it weren't for the half empty vodka guy yesterday, I'd say Eric's evil twin was drumming up photo ops for him!!
September 21, 2009 4:06:00 AM GMT+02:00
Wren -- I think Carrie's right. Let's hear it for the volunteers . . . but—just gotta say— you should see the gorgeous NYC firefighters!
September 21, 2009 7:13:00 AM GMT+02:00
While the girls drool over the large hoses, I am fascinated by the little red vehicle. It appears rather 19th Century, like it should be pulled by horses. (Horses, with an "r".)
September 21, 2009 7:31:00 AM GMT+02:00
This is what I call a real action photograph!
Well seen and well done!:-)
September 21, 2009 9:38:00 AM GMT+02:00
Eric, I don't know how you manage yourself to do that but this is always so well done.
I feel very close to the man in the middle of the picture... but you could not know it :-)
September 21, 2009 12:14:00 PM GMT+02:00
Yes Carrie, it must be the evil twin. I always suspected there must be one! ;)
September 21, 2009 1:31:00 PM GMT+02:00
Scary! Glad all are okay.
September 21, 2009 2:41:00 PM GMT+02:00
And, once again - just like when he took the photo of the shiny globe sculpture, I can't find Eric reflected in the helmets (unless he's the oblong dark object in front of the building). Evil twin doesn't reflect??!!
September 21, 2009 2:43:00 PM GMT+02:00
Jeff - I thought the hose trolley looked very 19th C too, especially with the spoke wheels and next to the thin stanchions.
September 21, 2009 2:57:00 PM GMT+02:00
Yes Jeff, looks like they nicked the wheels of those veteran cars parked in the Place des Pyramides the other day. It's definately a horseless carriage.
Horses R's? Face like? (sorry, UK joke)
So Eric has an evil twin?
- Or perhaps not.....the names Jekyll and Hyde spring to mind.
September 21, 2009 3:27:00 PM GMT+02:00
Hmm I can't see any reflection Carrie but I think maybe this is zoom-protected lol.
Drummond - shriek! - a further twist. Dun dun dur.
September 21, 2009 3:39:00 PM GMT+02:00
Monica "Eric next time you witness something (dramatic) like that don't stand so close to the smoke" Thanks, but I was not really that close and I did not stay very ong (I was actually having lunch on a terrace nearby, so I went back to my lunch)
Lynn "Do you reckon it's all a ploy to get a spot on the camera of Eric Tenin, PDP?" Er, I wish (just kidding!)
Jeff "While the girls drool over the large hoses, I am fascinated by the little red vehicle. It appears rather 19th Century, like it should be pulled by horses. (Horses, with an "r".)" LOOOOOL. Actually yu're right I too was surprised. It really looks like it belongs the 18th century.
Marie "I feel very close to the man in the middle of the picture... but you could not know it :-)" Why is it so Marie?? Do you know him?
Wren "Sue, I'll take both! Especially a pompier who is in a calendar!" LOL. We don't have pompiers on Calendars in Paris, only rugbymen!
Actually the Paris firemen are in fact armymen in Paris (and other big cities). Volunteers are in smaller cities.
No Carrie "I can't find Eric reflected in the helmets (unless he's the oblong dark object in front of the building). Evil twin doesn't reflect??!" It's impossible that you see me in the reflection. I was really too far away...
September 21, 2009 4:10:00 PM GMT+02:00
Another amazing photo; I agree with the others that it's both very dramatic and of another time. But Eric I beg to differ about Paris not having firemen on calendars! Last year there was a group of firemen out and about one morning raising money and selling their calendar so I bought one (hey, it was for a good cause!). I was a little disappointed that all the photos were like your photo here with firemen at work and dressed in full gear (BTW, your photo is a LOT better than anything that was in the calendar). I had to laugh though because the security woman at CDG who was looking through my carry-on luggage (I forgot to separate a little bottle of lotion) saw it and was initially excited, but she flipped through it and deemed it "nul" and I had to agree.
September 21, 2009 4:25:00 PM GMT+02:00
I am always intrigued by Eric's composition, including his cropping. Starting on the far left with the cone, your eye travels in a serpentine motion up to the leg of the first pompier to the gray hoses in the backround. The curving line then leads your eye to the green stripe on his leg and up to the hoses he is carrying in his arms. The men are standing in a half circular curve and all the vertical poles steady the composition.
More to add but I will leave it to YOUR eye.
Great work!
September 21, 2009 6:15:00 PM GMT+02:00
Beautiful picture Eric. I had a go at those statistics and it seems people are safer on the left bank... at least to witnessing fires... (www.dorsser.com)
September 22, 2009 12:04:00 AM GMT+02:00
Bonjour Eric,
no I don't know him !!
This was just a selfish and stupid comparison with how heavy I can feel things around me sometimes, instead of only walking straight...
Thank you for your eye witnesses and cleverness...
September 22, 2009 6:14:00 AM GMT+02:00
The price can be stiff to begin with and it keeps going up. Yes, Virginia, we had to take the hint from M. PDP. Suzy passed on it with grace. Grace passed on me, but she was plastered. Or pissed, to a Brit. Or hosed. Horses R's? (Oops, that was yesterday.)
September 23, 2009 2:55:00 AM GMT+02:00
Now that's a lot of fires for one year in one city. Neat statistic.
September 25, 2009 12:45:00 AM GMT+02:00
Glad everyone was OK, good news photo it is.
September 25, 2009 10:59:00 AM GMT+02:00
Le lien ne fonctionne pas (ou plus)