The representatives of three jobs, considered to be a man’s ones celebrate on May 4. This date has been officially pronounced an International Day of the Metallurgist, Firefighter and… Chimney Sweeper /International Firefighters’ Day/. At a first glance these are three quite different professions, but still those have a lot in common – hard labor conditions, high level of risk and necessity of a good overall psychophysical condition. For instance, the profession “fireman” – current PM Boyko Borissov has graduated the police academy as a fireman. One also thinks of the readiness of those professionals to risk their lives, while saving thousands of others and preventing environmental disasters, domestic fires etc. By the way, firemen don’t earn that much… The problem with delayed salaries is even more painful for Bulgarian metallurgists. We are talking here about bankrupted companies, wages that are not paid for months, symbolic compensations… It looks like that the profession, providing most freedom and money at the same time is the one of chimney sweepers. Mr. Vladimir Todorov inherited this interesting job from his grandfather. He used to wander around the roofs of Sofia along with his grandpa as a kid and when he grew up, he established his own company. It turns out that this job depends on no crisis.

Vlado has regular customers and new ones look for his services due to both his light temper and references.
“We didn’t have so much work when we started, as we do now,” the expert says. “Nowadays many people want to have fireplaces or tile stoves at their homes and they save money that way too… Hence we have more work now, while at the same time the number of chimney sweeps remained the same. We are not that many, it’s a fact and there is enough work for every one of us. The Bulgarians are superstitious and try to touch us – it brings good luck and happiness. That is why we are subject of serious interest when we are dressed with our uniform – black clothes and black cylinder. All kinds of people – young and old, chase us and want to chat, or take a photo… In most of the cases our working clothes are nothing much – a simple overalls that is not that different from the one of construction workers for instance. However, besides the romantic part, it is a hard job. Some chimneys take days to be unclogged. We take all kind of stuff out of those – construction waste, glass bottles, clothes and even devices, used by the owners of the house themselves, while attempting to clean the chimney on their own.”

Vlado admits that at some point he regretted his choice of a job. “When you are that covered with soot that your teeth are the only white thing in your appearance, when you are tired to death after a whole day, spent on the roofs, you start to ask yourself: for how long will I be able to do this thing? Is it worth the time and efforts invested? Thoughts, black as soot… However, when I look up in the sky and remember the reason why I am here – to be useful to people, such thoughts fly away just like the birds in this sky…” 

English version: Zhivko Stanchev