Telus Storyhive docuseries filmed in Langdon

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A six-episode docuseries filmed in Langdon premiered on Tuesday, Nov. 15, spotlighting the Langdon Fire Service and the volunteers dedicated to protecting their community. 

The series was filmed for the Telus Storyhive by director Robert Peddle over three months, beginning in the spring of 2022.

“The project is called ‘Langdon’s Heroes’ (and) it is about the Langdon Fire Service and basically the volunteers,” said Peddle. “I used to be a volunteer firefighter myself about 20 years ago back in Nova Scotia; now I live in Langdon … when Langdon got its new fire hall, I thought it would be a good time to do a documentary with the firefighters.”

Peddle described a fire service as “a bit of an unseen group,” as generally speaking, most people will not see them unless requiring their services. 

The angle Peddle took to approach the project was to show what Langdon’s volunteer firefighters go through at home, at work, and with their training.

In order to finance the project, Peddle applied for a grant through the Telus Storyhive, which upon his success, gave him a budget of $10,000 to see the series to completion.

Peddle and his partner at Bull & Ship Films, Kim Kelln, created the docuseries with the help of roughly 31 paid-on-call volunteers.

Upon its release, it will consist of six 30-minute episodes, which was outlined as a requirement of the Telus Storyhive grant awarded to the project. 

“I live in Langdon, and one of the requirements of the grant was it had to be something local, from your hometown. That’s why I picked the Langdon Fire Department,” said Peddle. “The guys were really great on camera. We did a lot of interviews with a lot of the firefighters, and we basically wanted to tell their story and what they go through, especially some of the bad calls.”

Langdon’s Heroes is Peddle’s second documentary as a hobbyist filmmaker. His first focussed on cyclists in Calgary who ride to work in the winter.

A significant focus of the series, Peddle added, is on the stress of duty, as well as on the rigorous training firefighters will go through in order to protect and serve their community. 

The series was made available to stream on Telus Optik TV as of Nov. 15. Following that, Peddle said the series would also be available through the Bull & Ship Films website.