While the country has been plagued for several weeks by fires of rare violence, tension is growing among the firefighters.
Although appeased by the arrival of European counterparts, their weariness is not the only result of the massive fires since the beginning of the summer.
It also stems from structural problems which, in times of fire and during daily operations, limit their effectiveness.
The successive cries of warning stem from the same observation: the lack of manpower.
"
We are currently 47,000 professional firefighters but we should be 60,000 or even 65,000 to provide a daily operational response
", explains Lieutenant-Colonel Alain Laratta, secretary general of the firefighters' union "
Avenirs-Secours
".
An essential level, according to him, to compensate for the sharp increase in the number of interventions over the past ten years.
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However, the budget allocated to this service tends to decrease.
Because the financing of the SDIS is distributed between three actors: the State, the department and the municipalities, under the governance of the president of the department.
But, according to Alain Laratta, “
the department tends to allocate less money to security than to social security or old age... And for a few years the increase in budgets has been capped
”.
Result: "
the SDIS no longer have the means to renew the workforce or maintain the equipment... Each year, we are moving backwards
".
And the emergency crisis induced by a shortage of personnel does not help: “
in Bordeaux, there are times when fire ambulances can wait in 5-hour queues in front of the emergency reception service. .. That's 5 hours less in the field ,” laments Lieutenant-Colonel Alain Laratta, secretary general of the “
Avenirs-Secours
” firefighters union
.
empty chairs
The result is a daily lack, partially alleviated by the use of volunteer firefighters.
A motivated, efficient and less expensive but also less available workforce.
In several departments, such as Oise or Lozère, the barracks are emptying and the activity of the firefighters is no longer anything but voluntary.
But this system has its limits: "
volunteer firefighters work, have a private life that they have the right to take precedence over this activity... If they want to take public holidays, they can take public holidays
", continues Alain Laratta.
From about 7,000 barracks ten years ago, France now has 6,100. But how can we do otherwise, when the French are turning away from the profession of professional firefighter?
“
It has been years since there has been an ambitious policy to attract people to our profession
,” laments Commander Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for the French fire brigade.
He, who sees more and more chairs and empty rooms during recruitment competitions, fears the disappearance of the small barracks: "
yet it is a nucleus in the daily life of citizens, but it is no longer attractive: it absolutely have to make people want to do this job again
”.
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The workforce problem is not the only one to worry about.
Added to this is the prospect of aging vehicles.
A priori, at the time of the purchase of fire trucks or an ambulance in a public order, the amortization period, that is to say the period during which it is estimated that the vehicle will be usable, varies from 15 to 20 years old.
But these deadlines have been postponed by the various SDIS, for lack of resources.
“
Most of the time, it is extended for 5 years.
Except that these 5 years are the most difficult: we accumulate breakdowns, maintenance is more expensive
”, details Alain Laratta.
In short, the equipment is less reliable and the effectiveness of firefighters hampered.
15 to 40 minutes
Result: the intervention time of the firefighters lengthens while the risks of fires, them, explode.
“
There is an intervention every 7 seconds, that is to say more than 4 million per year,
explains Commander Eric Brocardi.
Today, it is estimated that between the time you call and the time the firefighter arrives, it takes about 15 minutes.
It's already huge, but if barracks disappear, trucks no longer work, we could well reach the 30 or even 40 minute wait
”.
Crucial minutes whether it is the start of a fire or any other operation.
Faced with this prospect, made even more worrying by global warming and repeated droughts, Eric Brocardi like Alain Laratta are calling for a major national reform.
It would include a massive and professional recruitment plan, an increase in budgets but also a more educational component.
As with emergencies, "
citizens must become aware of appropriate behavior, life-saving gestures, situations for which we really need to be called
upon", concludes Alain Laratta.
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