Here is a general concept which, when it is theorized by an apple, does not represent any danger. But if Newton had illustrated it by the fall of incandescent ashes on dry ground, there is no doubt that the result would have been chaotic. “We have the law of gravity against us, and that’s annoying,” admits Jacques Couturier. This pyrotechnic creator knows something about it, he is one of the greatest specialists in France and his reputation is international.
However, if notoriety alone does not make it possible to evade universal principles, experience, on the other hand, is able to adapt to them, even to bow to them when the conditions impose it. “A lot of times the falling particles burn in the air, and if the wind starts carrying them, then you shouldn’t shoot. »
Just over two weeks away from their main annual meeting of July 14and while France is in the grip of recurrent droughts, the artificers are waiting. Will they be able to light up the skies with a thousand lights like every summer, or will they have to leave the rockets in their box? Already last year, several municipalities had to give up in the face of the risk of fire. Or rather, several prefectures have banned lighting the slightest wick in their departments.
READ ALSOJuly 14, 2022 in Paris: the director of the fireworks deciphers the showA prospect that makes Jacques Couturier tremble for the 2023 vintage: “Our fear is that decrees that do not take into account local specificities are taken without consultation with the mayors. But situations can be so diverse! Difficult, in fact, to understand why a ban should encompass an entire territory within which certain sectors nevertheless have bodies of water, or even are located on the seafront where the risk of fire is, by nature, excluded.
Artificers trained in drought phenomena
Risks which, beyond the topography, are integrated into the mandatory training of professionals to obtain a certificate issued by the authorities. “For several years, we have been making students more aware of the phenomena of drought, assures Nicolas Moinet, trainer in Vendée. They are taught to check that the site is well cleaned, freed of dry grass if necessary, then watered abundantly, and not with a bucket of water! »
There is also the way of distributing the teams in the firing zone “to be able to intervene immediately on such and such a fire outbreak. If the artificers have any doubts about the wind, I recommend that they first fire a test bomb before the start, warning the public, to see how the fallout behaves. And during the show, the duty of a pyrotechnician is to react very quickly by removing this or that product if there is the slightest risk. With the firing systems we now have, we are able to interact directly in a specific area. »
READ ALSOJuly 14: 5 received ideas about the national holidayIn short, even in a heat wave and in the middle of the countryside, a specialist must be able to organize a show without setting the surroundings on fire. This is what Jacques Couturier had done at hellfest at the end of a suffocating fifteenth edition in June 2022: even if the mercury had cheerfully exceeded 40 degrees in the heart of the Clisson vineyard (Loire-Atlantique), it was not unconsciousness, everything had been scrupulously checked. And more than twice, with 60,000 people crowding into the festival grounds!
The rural municipalities in question
Since then, the violent fires of last summer have been there and the situation may have changed, especially since the flames have also set ablaze departments that are usually less exposed (Finistère, Maine-et-Loire, etc.). For this July 14, when his company must ensure more than a hundred fires throughout France, Jacques Couturier’s concern is palpable, especially with regard to small towns. “In big cities like Lille, Dijon, Besançon or even La Baule, where we are lucky enough to organize shows, I know it will happen. But it is the most total vagueness in the small rural communes because, there, the decision often depends on a structure above the mayor, and this administrative structure does not have knowledge of the place in which the fire will happen. There will therefore be a significant impact for pyrotechnic companies but also for local associations and businesses that live around fireworks. »
In this context, the seasoned professional fears that anyone will improvise an artificer to compensate for a cancellation. “To ban at all costs, this risks creating cold fires and multiplying the problem. Let’s leave the power to decide to the mayors and the pyrotechnicians. »
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