Darmanin wants to strengthen the air resources of firefighters with EU help

Visiting the south-east of France during a fire red alert period, the Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, hoped on Tuesday August 4 to be able to increase the air resources available to firefighters thanks to European funding.

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" Thanks to Europe, there is now 90% funding for intervention planes ," said the minister during his trip to a forest area near Cuges-les-Pins, about thirty kilometers away. east of Marseille. " We hope that the files will go to the end, but I have confidence in the defense that we have with the European Commission ", he added after having attended a simulated fire start controlled by a bomber. of water.

Additional Canadairs

If the French firefighters got these additional Canadairs, they could then deploy them as reinforcements in other member countries of the Union as part of the European mechanism, said the departmental director of the Bouches-du fire and rescue service. -Rhône (Sdis 13), Colonel Grégory Allione.

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In April, the vice-president of the National Federation of firefighters, Hugues Deregnaucourt, had expressed his fears about the limitation of air resources for the summer with the withdrawal of the seven trackers, water launchers. " We have more than a quarter of the air capacity less, which will have to be compensated by troops on the ground, " he then stressed to AFP.

Civil security has 12 Canadairs as well as four Dash-type water bombers. The departmental emergency and fire services also have water bombing helicopters. " Today, in the recovery plan, two new helicopters will be budgeted (...) to be able to strengthen the means of civil security ", also indicated Gérald Darmanin.

400 fire starts listed since July 1

The Minister of the Interior reviewed the various technical means deployed in Bouches-du-Rhône, a department particularly damaged every summer by forest fires. Since this weekend, access to all forest areas has been prohibited due to strong winds and high temperatures which increase the risk of fires. Some 500 firefighters from Bouches-du-Rhône, spread over 62 barracks, are currently reinforced by 500 additional firefighters from eastern France, in addition to the battalion of marine firefighters from Marseille.

Monday evening, they were able to quickly control a fire near Coudoux, near Aix-en-Provence, which devastated 15 ha of vegetation. Since the start of the fire season on July 1, more than 400 fire starts have been recorded and nearly 70 ha destroyed in the Bouches-du-Rhône, a figure down compared to the previous year. Between 2015 and 2019, 9,300 ha of forest burned on average each year in the departments of the Mediterranean coast.