The current tensions on the labor market do not spare the Paris fire brigade (BSPP).
Faced, for budgetary reasons, with a drop in its personnel from 2014, this military engineering unit had to recruit massively after the 2015 attacks, as well as due to a growing increase in its interventions (more than 500,000 per year).
To maintain its contingent of 8,500 people, of which only 20% are career soldiers, the BSPP integrates 1,200 young people aged 18 to 27 each year, under contract, i.e. at a rate of 90 to 120 recruits per month.
The 3è class level is the minimum required for these entrants, 60% of whom hold the baccalaureate.
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"
With us, there is no competition, we are looking for the woman and the man who wants to join us spontaneously and voluntarily
", indicates the general of division Jean-Marie Gontier, commander of the BSPP.
Future recruits (of which only 3% to 4% are women), however, pass aptitude tests and psychological interviews to ensure their high degree of empathy and stability.
If they prove to be positive, they continue with a one-week immersion in the Paris firefighter training school, in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges (Val-de-Marne), in order to take the measurement of the dimensions. technical and human expected, and to get an overview of the atmosphere and the pace of work.
On average 4% to 5% give up after this phase.
The others obtain technical approval and are hired at 1,800 euros net per month, for a five-year contract, which they start with four months of training.
If General Gontier assures that he has "no
difficulty in recruiting, because there is still a momentum and we still have a generous youth
", he recognizes that competition is fierce with other State services, including others. armed forces, gendarmerie, customs, police and civilian firefighters.
"
These young people come to seek meaning, and want to be useful to the population
," he explains
.
But they also ask us for a framework, for support
”.
Life experience
At the end of their five years of service, the young firefighters can re-join for the same duration, or à la carte.
But, on average, many do not pursue beyond six years.
Several reasons for this.
First, the fact that three quarters of the 1,200 annual recruits come from the provinces, and few settle in Ile-de-France, where rents are expensive.
Housed in barracks during their 120 annual 24-hour guards, to which are added 20 working days from 8 a.m. to 5.30 p.m., they return to their region once their mission has been fulfilled, and therefore go back and forth.
A rhythm they get tired of and which ends up costing dear.
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To retain them, the BSPP notably has a stock of around 1,500 apartments, for which it pays the rents, which favors family settlements. “
If we encourage them to take the required exams, only 20% can get into the chain of command. For the others, we do not offer a permanent contract (CDI). In fact, many have their first life experience with us. They take on a human dimension, then will then enhance their experience elsewhere,
”explains General Gontier. To stop these departures, the BSPP and the Army Human Resources Directorate are currently working on a new 8 or 9-year contract which could be accompanied by specialized training.
However, the high frequency of interventions (between 10 and 14 daily trips for a firefighter on a medical vehicle, and between 7 and 9 on a pump machine) also wears out the staff, who feel at one point that they have done their part. , and want to move on.
When they do not have a specific project, the institution takes care to support them and offers them professional adaptation training (60% go through this system).
“
As the manager of this house, I would like there to be fewer who leave after their first contract.
But as a military official, I tell myself that these young people have been taught values and skills, and that they are good people
, ”points out General Gontier.
