Dramatic missions: Fire & Flame” starts in Heidelberg!

Dramatic missions: Fire & Flame” starts in Heidelberg!

The popular documentary series “Fire & Flame” is entering its tenth round. How fireworld.at reports, the new season will be filmed in Heidelberg, in southwest Germany. The Heidelberg fire department is accompanied in its everyday life, with various operations shown that point to the different challenges in the fire service.

The first two episodes of the new season will be available in the ARD media library from August 20, 2025, while the television broadcast will be shown on Erste on August 25, 2025 at 10:20 p.m. The series consists of ten episodes in total, which are released weekly. This episodic structure allows viewers to delve deeper into the lives and work of firefighters.

Missions and challenges

The missions shown in the series are spectacular and varied. The challenges that the fire department is faced with include a garage fire with a high risk of spreading, the rescue of a fallen downhill rider on the Königsstuhl, a water rescue in the Neckar in freezing temperatures and a dramatic traffic accident in the allotment garden. In addition, a series of arsonists in Heidelberg is also discussed, which illustrates the urgency and tragedy of some operations.

Filming took place in spring 2024 and included almost 100 days of filming. 45 state-of-the-art special cameras, including body cameras, were used for the recordings. This enables an authentic perspective on the operations, as the firefighters themselves have their say without a voiceover interrupting the narrative.

The fire service in Germany

The documentary support of the fire department in Heidelberg not only reflects the individual challenges of the emergency services, but is also in the context of the general fire service situation in Germany. Loud Statista At the end of 2022, there were around 48,100 fire departments in Germany, with volunteer fire departments making up the majority. These groups have over a million members and play a central role in the approximately 2.8 million operations in 2022, which include both firefighting and human rescue.

In recent years, the fire department's focus has shifted to the areas of rescue, recovery and protection. In the same year, around 229,000 fires and explosions were recorded and, tragically, there were 333 deaths from smoke, fire and flames.

“Fire & Flame” is not only an entertaining documentary series, but also an important platform to draw attention to the heroic and often dangerous tasks of firefighters. Using Heidelberg as an example, viewers can experience how diverse and challenging the everyday life of firefighter candidates is, who are prepared to give everything to help people in need. The series is produced by SEO Entertainment on behalf of SWR.