The truck that starts is kind of the ultimate fire fighter. The machine is impressive. “It’s a CCF 13,000, because it contains 13,000 liters of water”, explains Lieutenant-Colonel Olivier Roy, deputy director of operational resources for the Côte-d’Or firefighters. The truck is specially equipped against forest fires. The department’s firefighters have had two for a year now. “Five or even 10 years ago, we would never have thought of acquiring this type of vehicle in Côte-d’Or.”
Currently, 14 French departments are affected by water restrictions, and almost all by very high temperatures which will remain in the country for a few more days. The risk of drought is high and in Côte-d’Or, firefighters are at very severe fire risk, reinforced by climate change. They are preparing to face extraordinary forest fires.
In the department, the first signs of climate change around the fires appeared in 2015. “We ended up with a real extremely large forest fire since it burned 100 hectares, at the gates of Dijon”remembers the lieutenant-colonel. “And we were forced to really deploy strategies as we see in the important fires in the south of France.”
In Dijon, the firefighters are preparing to experience in a short time what their colleagues from the south are going through. “The hot zone and the zone of forest fires are going up more and more”observes the Comptroller General Régis Deza, director of the rescue center.
“It is estimated that within a few decades, 10, 15 or 20 years, we will have a climate that is similar to that of the Ardèche.”
Régis Deza, director of the Dijon rescue center
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In addition to the trucks, the firefighters have three drones with thermal cameras. “They are especially useful for the monitoring phases, precise CLéa Carré, firefighter lieutenant and head of the communication office. We can identify the hot spots and therefore take our men directly to the hot spots.” But the fight against this new type of fire also involves raising the awareness of farmers who are sometimes responsible for starting fires, and that of forest operators who do not take this new danger into account when maintaining their wood.
The next risk coverage scheme must take into account global warming. “We are going to do an analysis of the forest in the department, water resources, explains Régis Déza, see the different types of essences there may be, which ones are more prone to burning.” “And therefore try to have, with the forest specialists, an analysis of the places that would be the most critical.” There is a third of forests in the Côte-d’Or department. The fire season now runs from April to October, when it was traditionally concentrated in the summer.
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