You can see them inspecting abandoned luggage on train platforms, ensuring public safety during high-risk, large-crowd events, quickly arriving at the scene of national tragedies like the Bataclan in November 2015, and even being called to survey an area once covered in landmines, the remnants of World War II....
France's 300 professional bomb-disposal experts make up one of the oldest mine clearance units in the world, founded at the end of the 19th century to combat a large wave of anarchist bombings. Today, they seize an average of 400 to 500 tons of explosives a year--from anti-tank and anti-personnel mines to--more and more frequently--improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.
Some know how to de-activate bombs underwater, others can work high above the ground, yet all must learn to keep calm under intense pressure. Despite the advance of technology to help them in their task (Kevlar suits, robots, high-tech detection devices), this is precision work at its most intense and stressful, a job with no room for error.... Every day they work to ensure our safety, but we hardly know what they look like.
