From Monday, these pros and seasonal workers will be on the ground on patrol until mid-September.
They are the first responders when an alert is triggered. From Monday and for two and a half months, the 115 forest sappers of the department will be at the front of the fight against fires. Every day, 45 patrols will be deployed in the most exposed massifs and sectors. Objective: to be able to intervene on “a building site” within ten minutes of a report. “We try to anticipate the needs formulated by the Sdis, to adapt. In 93% of cases, we are the first on site”, emphasizes Alexis Jean, the manager of this service. “What makes the strength in the Hérault is the complementarity. There is a real synergy between all the actors”, he adds.
If last season had already been “rude”, this summer promises to be hot. On average, 170 fires are recorded each year with a peak around mid-August. “According to Météo-France, we are a month and a half ahead. Global warming creates conditions that favor the start of fires”, continues Alexis Jean.
Every fire is different
This week, on the banks of the Salagou, its teams led the training of the fifteen seasonal workers who will take part in the patrols, alongside an experienced professional. In 48 hours, these men and women with different profiles were trained in radio messages, driving all-terrain vehicles, reading topographic maps and handling the water pumps that allow this “primo intervention”. “Each construction site is different. We teach them to focus on the fire environment, on securing goods and people, to take a step back from the intervention and stay in their place. Often, the first twenty minutes, we is very lonely, explains the chief forester. “We are in a physical, technical but also intellectual profession. Very far from the image that people want to stick to us”, summarizes Guilhem, trainer and group leader in Ganges. At 21, Giovanni, a student in nature protection management, will begin his first season, without any particular pressure. “We are also here to protect natural spaces, to raise public awareness. It’s a great life experience”, he says, now ready to hit the DFCI trails, five days a week all summer long.
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