To avoid the burning of the forest, threatened by global warming, a Senate report recommends 70 proposals. Among them, an increase in funds allocated to SDIS, to reconsider the 500 job cuts planned at the ONF, or to put the emphasis back on clearing. Effective in preventing fires, this legal obligation for for about 3 million private ownersis applied too little: “often less than 30%”, according to the report.
“People can stay safe at home”
“This is one of the essential conditions for protecting our forest against fire”, says Var senator Jean Bacci, one of the four authors of the report, this Thursday on France Bleu Provence. With the legal clearing obligations “people can stay safe in their homes and let the fire pass” and “we protect the forest from the domestic accident that communicates fire”.
But you have to push people to action, admits the senator: “we worked on several levers: we have to encourage people to become aware of this need, then we can help certain households that are having difficulties, because financially it is not neutral, you can consider tax exemption in the form of a tax credit or be able to pay for your work with employment service cheques.”
“There is no miracle solution”
Brush clearing is not a miracle solution but remains a great help for firefighters. “When you have a house where the legal clearing obligations (OLD) have not been made, when the fire arrives, the firefighters come to protect the house, and the fire truck that is there, it does not work on the If now people can stay at home, confine themselves and let the fire pass, firefighters can work elsewhere, it’s part of a whole, there is no miracle solution, it’s a lot of little things to implement.”