Today, the Paris Fire Brigade includes 8,700 men and women, making it the largest fire brigade in Europe and third largest in the world. The Paris Fire Brigade dates back to 1793, just four short years after the storming of the Bastille, and in 1810 Napoleon decreed it to be a military unit of the French Army devoted to the safety of Paris after a particularly devastating fire burned for 23 hours in the city. What to Expect at a Bal des Pompiers Musicians on stage at a Bal des Pompiers Top photo: Bal des Pompiers at Arenes de Lutect, (c) Paris Discovery Guide If you're lucky enough to be in Paris on July 13 and 14, put one or more of these famous all-night parties on your calendar. You'll enjoy lots of fun and Champagne (or beer), meet and mingle with real Parisians, and get to ogle (oops, admire) the handsome and very physically fit members of the elite Paris Fire Brigade. There's no better way to celebrate la Fête Nationale!

Every July, Firemen's Balls - Bals des Pompiers - become hot spots of Bastille Day revelry at fire stations and other special venues across Paris as well as the rest of France.

Paris opera house fire