Aviation Firefighters: Three minutes to the end of the runway

Colombian Air Force · Photography

The job

Bomberos aeronáuticos are the firefighters who live on the airfield. They are officers, NCOs, soldiers and civilians trained for one thing: reaching a crashed or burning aircraft fast and getting the crew out. Their own manual gives them three minutes to reach either end of the runway.

Always on

On Air Force bases, new firefighters start with a basic course and then train for the rest of their careers: the vehicles, the protective suits, the rescue tools, the same drills again and again until the moves happen without thinking. The crews stand watch around the clock, because aircraft fly around the clock.

When nothing happens

Most days, nothing happens. The aircraft land, the crews stand down, and nobody outside the base learns their names. That is what success looks like in this job. We wanted to show the people behind the visors, the ones every pilot counts on without ever having to think about them.

From the ground to the air

The Air Force also fights fire from above. In the 2023 to 2024 El Niño season its helicopters made 608 drops and released 784,000 liters of water on wildfires across Colombia. On the airfield or over the hills, it is the same instinct: run toward the fire.