in Gironde, after the fires, applications to become a volunteer firefighter are pouring in

Firefighters, elected officials, volunteers… More than 350 people were invited by Emmanuel Macron to the Elysée Palace on Friday October 28 to hear the President of the Republic’s announcements on the means granted to the fight against forest fires, while 72 000 hectares burned this summer.

The trauma of the devastated forests seems to have caused some vocations, especially in Gironde, a department particularly affected by the flames and where applications to become a volunteer firefighter are flocking. Among the candidates, Elisabeth Barbe, who spent her summer in the middle of the flames: on vacation in La Teste-de-Buch, then at her home in Landiras, this osteo-therapist took care of the firefighters.

“It was a very, very human experience. It’s also the desire to feel useful.”

Elizabeth Beard

at franceinfo

After a first failure, Elisabeth must retake the physical tests to become a volunteer firefighter. “I said to myself: why not me? It responds to something that makes me vibrate and it remains the gift of self, she explains. I am aware that it is a commitment, at least in the medium term in any case.”

A momentum shared en masse, confirms Mathieu Jomain, communication officer for the Gironde firefighters: since January 1, there have been 730 candidates, as many as in a whole year as usual. “The forest fires we experienced this summer generated popular enthusiasm, he indicates. NOTOur reservation, vis-à-vis this significant figure, is that these 730 applications are coming to the end of the process: we are waiting for the end to be able to say that this has actually resulted in additional recruitments and firefighters injected into the barracks.”

Because there is sometimes a discrepancy between the image of the firefighter in the face of fires, and his daily life of helping people, not to mention the organization necessary for volunteers, both personally and professionally. They are however necessary in the face of the increase in interventions, while there would be a shortage of 50,000 by 2027, according to the National Federation of Firefighters.