The Fire Dude

The Begur film festival is happening now, and today we had the pleasure of again seeing my father-in-law's short documentary about Begur.

It's a fascinating oral history of the lives of the people of Begur focusing on the mid-twentieth century. At one point, the town had a cork factory, as did other nearby towns, and this factory employed most of the town's inhabitants. There was a lot of competition between different cork factories and manufacturers and each tried to sabotage the other, including by setting fires.

Apparently there was one guy who was the fire guy.

Need to sabotage the competition? Need to burn down their factory?

He's the guy to use. Best in the business. That it what he was known for.

I guess they didn't arrest people back then.

People were just like, Well, he's got to make a living somehow. And he's really good at what he does. Let's just let him live his life.

Fascinating times.