More water bombers, land vehicles, firefighters and soldiers: the government announced on Tuesday an “unprecedented” reinforcement of the means of fighting forest fires, after a summer of 2022 marked by major fires.
Nine additional water bomber planes and helicopters will be mobilized in 2023, bringing the number of aircraft from 38 to 47, as well as nearly 500 additional firefighters.
These announcements were made during a trip to the Cazaux air base, in La Teste-de-Buch in Gironde, by ministers Gérald Darmanin (Interior), Marc Fesneau (Agriculture), Christophe Béchu (Ecological transition) and Dominique Faure (Local authorities).
“The summer of 2022 was terrible. We are implementing new means for the summer of 2023 which will be further reinforced later,” said Mr. Darmanin, assuring that 180 million euros allocated to the Departmental Fire Services and rescue (SDIS) would allow the purchase of 1,100 fire-fighting devices.
The Minister of the Interior specified that air resources would be positioned in Gironde, as demanded by local elected officials since the fires last summer which burned around 30,000 hectares there.
Four Air Tractor-type water bombers and a Dash will be positioned in Bordeaux from July 1, and a water bomber helicopter from June 1. In addition, two Canadair can be positioned in Gironde 48 hours before a risk reported by the new “forest weather”.
“These are concrete announcements, we have been heard”, welcomed the president of the department Jean-Luc Gleyze (PS). “We should no longer have to beg civil security to send us planes, that will be the case”, reacted the president of Defense against fires (DFCI) in Gironde Bruno Lafon.
The Minister of the Interior also specified that the country’s fourth military training and intervention unit for civil security, the creation of which had been announced in the fall by Emmanuel Macron, would be established in New Aquitaine, with the arrival of “565 soldiers”.
The South-West of France will also be the location of a future second civil security air base, after that of Nîmes (Gard), he assured.
At the same time, Mr. Darmanin signed a memorandum of understanding with the representatives of the two trade unions for civil security flight personnel.
According to the ministry, this document provides for the creation of specific functions within the aircraft group and a captain’s bonus for aircraft pilots, to upgrade the management and instruction functions within the helicopter group, as well as the all flight personnel.
At the initiative of the government, the Senate had recognized “the dangerous nature” of these professions in a bill adopted last week.
Gérald Darmanin finally decorated people who were “particularly mobilized” in the context of the forest fires last year.
MM. Béchu and Fesneau have signed an agreement allowing the “effective triggering” of a massive reforestation plan announced in the fall by President Emmanuel Macron.
This plan aims to plant a billion trees within ten years, with the help of Ademe and the ONF. “It is neither a slogan nor an announcement effect, it is an ecological imperative to consolidate our public and private forests” in the face of global warming and its consequences, said Mr. Béchu.
11/04/2023 23:44:13 – La Teste-de-Buch (France) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
