“We operate nationwide”explains Friday, June 17, Commander Eric Brocardi, spokesperson for the National Federation of Firefighters of France.
>> Heat wave: what measures are taken in the departments in red vigilance?
The more northern regions have also had to adapt to these fire risks in natural areas, and firefighters have been trying for several years to “re-adapt the material, re-adapt the training methods”. Eric Brocardi also denounces the “human negligence”responsible “one in two fires” in the country.
Where are you in right now?
Unfortunately we intervene a little on the whole territory. Today, this heat wave inevitably has consequences for natural areas. And these consequences are quite dramatic because we record a lot of fires and fire starts in areas that are not usually impacted by this type of disaster. I am speaking in particular of the Loire side, of Saint Etienne, usually these sectors are at the limit prone to a certain drought, and there we have fire starts. The sappers are very mobilized. The departmental director of the Marne explained earlier that for the past few days there has been a worrying increase in the number of fires starting on agricultural plots.
The Office National des Forêts has precisely decided to restrict access to certain areas, particularly in Île-de-France, is it to avoid too many visitors?
What we see above all is human negligence. One in two fires is caused by man, so to avoid this the prefectures, the ONF, ensure that all sectors and paths are unfortunately prohibited for the population, which makes it possible to preserve our natural heritage. There, you have to say stop. Stop imprudence, stop throwing cigarette butts, stop barbecues, stop anything that could cause a spark, which would allow a fire to start quite quickly and catastrophically behind.
Firefighters in the South are unfortunately used to these large fires, but in the North, do they have the equipment to fight forest fires?
Today, we firefighters, for two or three years, we have noticed these climatic disturbances and we have started to cope, to be able to readapt the equipment, readapt our training methods. We are working on better civil protection linked to natural crises, encompassing these specific sectors such as forest fires, fires in natural areas in regions that are usually not affected. It’s true that lately, I have had colleagues from Eure-et-Loire who very proudly showed on social networks their latest shiny vehicles, which are tank trucks for forest fires. However, these are not sectors that are accustomed to this type of disaster. Today, we are also talking about departments like Cher, which three days ago triggered its operational forest fire order and which has been doing this now for two years. It is a readjustment of means, it is a readjustment of intervention methods, of operational methods. All this for the well-being of our heritage and to prevent disasters from continuing despite all the preventive actions that firefighters and prefectures are trying to do.