Five million people come to Chamonix every year. Many are unaware of the danger they can be putting themselves in but luckily, the rescue teams of Mont Blanc are there, devoting their lives to those in trouble.
We spent a year following the mountain rescue service. Filming their operations on head-cameras worn by the team, we captured the dangers and challenges of their work. The footage of these operations can be hard to watch. Not everyone can be saved. On 12 July 2012, in the middle of filming, the deadliest avalanche of the decade hit Mont Blanc. Nine people died. But in that year, 1,110 lives were saved.
What does it take to become one of these heroes? What motivates them to put their lives at risk every day for strangers?
There is a growing trend for tourists to visit war zones and even areas struck by natural or nuclear disasters. We meet holiday-makers in Indonesia, Afghanistan and Chernobyl.
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Andalucia, Spain. One of the world’s worst places to fight fire, where temperatures of up to 45º c meet with vast vegetation, creating 50 meter walls of flames that threaten the whole region. ‘Life in Flames’ follows a team of elite firemen over the course of a summer.
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