As a firefighter and stunt performer, Vero said, he loves the sheer thrill of being set on fire and feels a rush every time he responds in flaming gear.
Vero’s flame-filled race in September recently won the Guinness World Record for fastest 100-meter sprint and longest run while on fire. The records were the end of a goal that Vero, a 39-year-old resident of Lille, France, had proven to be one of the world’s top firefighters.
“I’m not afraid of fire,” said Vero. “I like fire. It’s my pleasure.”
That passion started when he was still a child. As young as 6, Vero said, he was stealing matches and lighters from his grandparents and lighting his toy cars and airplanes in their yard. He would learn how the fire danced and changed colors as his toys melted the blobs.
Vero’s grandparents asked him to stop, but he kept trying. At age 10, Vero said, he set a can of deodorant on fire and it was excited by how high the flames grew.
At 18, he was he became a fireman in northern France. That’s when he said he saw for himself how a fire could destroy a family.
“I saw the dark side of the fire, with destruction, with burnt bodies,” said Vero. “It was really hard for me to accept this.”
He focused on that work for nearly two decades before exploring a second career.
In 2019, Vero’s grandmother, Agnes, died at 89. While he was grieving, Vero said, he found a new outlet, one that reminded him of playing with flames as a child: fire stunts. He visited Austria to meet a stuntman from the Matrix series and a gel was brought in which, although flammable, could protect him. skin people during stunts.
Vero said he was scared of being set on fire the first time, but after about two seconds of being engulfed in flames, his fear turned to excitement
In 2020, Vero started a fire stunt company, Ignition. He learned to suck torches and eat and breathe fire – or, at least, how it appears. He started playing at parties.
But he wanted to show more of his skills. As he went through the Guinness World Records list last year, he said, he saw there were two burning tablets. He wanted to hit him immediately.
The records were held by a man from the United Kingdom, Antony Britton, who had sprinted 100 meters in 24.58 seconds and ran 204.23 meters while on fire in October 2017. The distance record had changed six times since 2009.
In May 2022, Vero began training by focusing on his breathing while running on fire. He chose a track in his hometown – Haubourdin, France – as the place to break the record.
On September 10, Vero reached the trail and drew a path on a white board in front of his path. colleagues. He jogged around the track in black tights to warm up.
Then, Vero was suitable in the bathroom. His first set consisted of black flame retardant sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt. He covered them in a special gel and added a second layer – a blue-and-white jumpsuit also smeared in gel. Vero put on a black mask to cover his face.
His final stage: his black suit of fire, black gloves and boots. On a chain around his neck, Vero said, he attached his late grandmother’s diamond ring, which he touched for good luck before the run.
In the farthest lane, Vero continued on before someone set his legs on fire with a pair of torches. With her 6-year-old daughter, 3-year-old son and other family members and friends watching from the bleachers, Vero ran more than halfway across the track before his colleagues sprayed him with fire extinguishers.
Vero said his back and side were burned after the race, but he applied cream, and it healed after a few days.
“When you want to break this kind of record,” Vero said, “you have to accept the risks.”
Vero said that he has been more cautious about doing stunts since the birth of his children. But he is proud to show his children the Guinness World Record certificates he received last week, and he has no plans to stop.
“That [are] a lot of records that I think I can break,” Vero said.
