President Grégory Allione of the association of French firefighters has called for the usual fireworks to be omitted on the national holiday 14 July. Fireworks set off during this heat wave and drought can quickly set off wildfires, which are already afflicting the country.
Allione points out in conversation with French media that the country is vulnerable to forest fires every summer until about mid-August. Two major wildfires are currently raging in the southwestern department of Gironde, while other parts of the country are also battling wildfires.
France is struggling with drought and high temperatures, but the biggest problem, according to Allione, remains the people themselves. “We’ve been saying for years that we need a real prevention policy because people are potential arsonists. There is a close relationship between population density, the frequency of traffic on roads and the outbreak of fires.”
The chief of police also calls on firefighters to be better trained and to recruit more, including for the voluntary fire brigade. France now has about a quarter of a million people engaged in firefighting. More than three quarters of these people do so on a voluntary basis, in addition to their daily job. According to Allione, it would be best if there were 50,000 more volunteers in five years than now.
In Gironde, fires have already reduced almost 4,000 hectares of forest to ashes. The fire service has not yet brought the fire under control. A local fire chief in the municipality of Landiras said the firefighting was slow as the heat is expected to last until Monday and no rain is expected in the coming days.
The commander also points out that fire extinguishers are starting to get tired in the heat. For every firefighter on duty, there must be another on hand to replace him after 12 hours at the latest. Without a changing of the guard, accidents and firefighters risk being injured. In addition, many deployed firefighters have the primary task of protecting buildings against the fire. They cannot then be used directly to extinguish the actual forest fire.
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