Firemen at 2013 Republic Day parade Shivaji Park Mumbai

Firemen are an incredibly courageous lot. People tend to run away from flames with a natural horror of getting burned and being charred. Firemen, on the other hand, run towards the horrifying danger to battle the flames.

Most of our firemen do not have the special costumes to protect them from fire. Yet they plunge into the danger, time and again. They also rescue people trapped in high rise buildings and those trapped in stuck lifts. See them in their glorious fireman's uniforms in the photos below taken at the 2013 Republic Day parade at Shivaji Park. This time, though, there were not fire engines unlike at previous parades. Perhaps they were required at the site of a major fire.

In the photograph below note the axe which is attached to the fireman's belt. It is used to break into doors and walls to rescue trapped people.