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FDNY Teams with Flying Karamazov Brothers

By DNAinfo Staff on February 15, 2011 5:16pm  | Updated on February 16, 2011 6:05am

By Tara Kyle

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

GREENWICH VILLAGE — Smoke and flames wafted through the Minetta Lane Theatre Tuesday afternoon, in the presence of about a half dozen firefighters — but not one took out a hose.

A few of the FDNY's most theatrically gifted are joining up with the Flying Karamazov Brothers theater troupe to film a public service announcement relating key fire safety tips through song, dance and juggling. Flaming torch juggling, that is.

The approximately 90-second long collaboration combines reggae, rock 'n roll, and barber shop styles, according to performer and 12-year troupe veteran Rod Kimball, 40.

The FDNY provided a list of 10 key fire safety tips, and the Flying Karamazov Brothers created the song and choreography for the PSA, which will be distributed through the FDNY's and Flying Karamazov Brothers' websites and social networks, before possibly expanding to television.

"It's exciting to be around those guys who work with fire in a very different way than we do," said firefighter and former actor and Improv comedian Danny Glover, 36, of Manhattan's Engine 80. At first, seeing the torches fly through the air, he said, "I was like, 'ah, where's my bunker gear?' But these guys are very skilled."

The performance does involve working with more fire than the theater group is accustomed to. Normally, according to Kimball, their finale features only one flaming torch (and eight other flying objects). For the PSA, they are juggling 12.

That makes it harder to juggle, Kimball said, because normally the performers synch up with each other by listening to the sounds of the objects hitting their hands.

"When you're juggling 12 torches, it's so noisy," Kimball said, describing the whooshing noise of the flames. "You can kind of do it visually, but you can't really see either, because you have fire in your face."

The whole point is to help the public understand how to keep fire out of their faces, as well as confront common misconceptions.

One of those, according to EMS Captain Dawn Diaz, 44, is the idea that one should use butter to treat a burn. The correct response, she said, was to run burns under cold water.

Diaz, who sings the national anthem at FDNY funerals and graduation ceremonies, said another key tip from the song is to test smoke detectors once a week, and change the batteries twice a year.

She and Glover hope that the song, dance and spectacle of this PSA will help messages such as that one stick with viewers.

"With a lot of campaigns, if you reach kids, you'll have a domino effect. They come home and spread it to their brothers and sisters and families," said Glover. "I don't have the body for a calendar — but I feel that I can lend my skills in other areas such as this one."