I've been on a journey......................

Into the remote hinterland of my hard drive, partitioned off in 2007! And I found a forgotten file of photographs including these!

This is the Bertignat fire engine. (Bertignat is the village across the valley where I used to live). I will always remember the first time I heard the wail of the siren followed by a glimpse of the fire-engine scooting past the house. It felt as if I had slipped into a time warp.

All the local communes have their own fire engines of varying ages and they often attend Summer fêtes. Here are a few more.

They are maintained by volunteer firemen called Sapeur Pompiers who do a really excellent job. In Bertignat the garage or 'caserne' had a built in bar which may have helped to maintain the enthusiasm of the volunteers!
Here in the mountains they perform many roles, attending traffic accidents and also acting as ambulances, giving preliminary first aid. Despite being mostly unpaid volunteers they are extremely dedicated and highly trained.
Many of the artisans that worked on the restoration of 'La Jovienne' were Sapeur Pompiers and disappeared as soon as the siren sounded.
My favourite will alway be the fire engine from Bertignat. It is the oldest of all the local ones and it always reminded me of Trumpton.

Here it is again with our old house just behind the war memorial.

My new printer still doesn't scan! (the original reason for my journey) but I did enjoy the trip down memory lane.