Incredible first-person view of a firefighter

We all grew up wanting to be firemen. Look at the cool outfits! And you get to be a hero. Then it suddenly dawned on us that being a fireman means that you have to go really, really close to fires. Isn't that quite dangerous?

But now we can get a glimpse of what it's like to be a fearless firefighter with this fascinating video released by the San Bernardino County Fire Department. A camera attached to a fireman from Victorville, California enables you to follow his actions as his team were called to a structure fire with a single story home ablaze, with an adjacent building also beginning to burn.

According to the Fire Department, "an aggressive coordinated attack with hose lines and vertical ventilation" was launched, with the fire stopped in 30 minutes. 

You can see our man getting up on the roof, chainsawing ventilation areas (to enable smoke to escape and thus allow an inside search to be conducted) and getting up close and personal with the belly of the beast. Luckily no one was inside, with all residents accounted for - although a "large dog was found in search and was reunited with his owners".

So they looked cool, stopped a fire and saved a dog? Maybe we do want to be firefighters after all.