in Alsace, 350 firefighters are trained in forest fires

On the heights of Cernay (Haut-Rhin), around forty firefighters from the department are in forest fire training. First exercise of the morning: attacking a fictitious fire. Two columns of eight firefighters begin their ascent. The difference in altitude is significant, the ascent exhausting. It is only an exercise, but the firefighters in training already measure the difficulty of intervening in the forest. “Before coming, we prepared ourselves a little, but the reality on the ground is different“, says Staff Sergeant Michaël Schaerer, firefighter from Ottmarsheim.

Forest fire, still considered a specialty

Last year at Ménil (Vosges) the firefighters had to fight against the fire for 48 hours in a row. And the fires have multiplied in 2022. More than 500 fire outbreaks have been recorded in the Haut-Rhin department alone. To deal with it, 350 firefighters are trained, barely 7% of the workforce.

Accelerate training to meet the challenges of tomorrow. The Haut-Rhin firefighters thus organize three sessions a year. Very popular practical and theoretical training, the 40 places cannot meet all requests. Forest fire is currently considered a specialty, but with global warming, it will necessarily integrate the basic training of all firefighters in Alsace.

On the heights of Cernay (Haut-Rhin), around forty Haut-Rhin firefighters are in forest fire training. First exercise of the morning: attacking a fictitious fire. Two columns of eight firefighters begin their ascent. The difference in altitude is significant, the ascent exhausting. It is only an exercise, but the firefighters in training already measure the difficulty of intervening in the forest. “Before coming, we prepared a little, but the reality on the ground is different,” says Staff Sergeant Michaël Schaerer, firefighter from Ottmarsheim.

Forest fire is currently considered a specialty

Last year at Ménil (Vosges) the firefighters had to fight against the fire for 48 hours in a row. And the fires have multiplied in 2022. More than 500 fire outbreaks have been recorded in the Haut-Rhin department alone. To deal with it, 350 firefighters are trained, that’s barely 7% of the workforce. Accelerate training to meet the challenges of tomorrow. The Haut-Rhin firefighters organize three sessions a year. Very popular practical and theoretical training, the 40 places cannot meet all requests. Forest fire is currently considered a specialty, but with global warming, it will necessarily integrate the basic training of all firefighters in Alsace.