Mobilization of firefighters: four days of strike to demand resources

This is the start of four days of mobilization for the firefighters. At the call of their inter-union, static rallies are planned from Saturday September 26 and until Monday, Place de la République in Paris, before a large-scale demonstration Tuesday September 29 to defend the public service. After a summer marked by record fires, firefighters are calling for massive recruitment and more equipment.

In the Var, where firefighters fought for a month against the flames in the Gros Bessillon massif, the independent firefighters' union began a tour of city centers to raise public awareness. A fire truck is parked in a square in downtown Hyères. It reads “On strike”. Right next door, under an arbor, uniformed firefighters answer questions from passers-by. “We saw on the news that a lot of Canadair and equipment were still missing,” says one of them.

“It's a lack of air resources: when we see the number of planes we lack, helicopters... And also land resources: we also lack trucks a lot,” estimates Hervé, a firefighter in the Var for 25 years. "One of the best examples," he continues, "is the fire that happened this summer at Gros Bessillon. So much the better, there were still quite a few trucks that went to it, but if it burned elsewhere, there were no more trucks in the barracks. The entire Toulouse area, if there was a big fire, there were no longer any forest fire trucks."

“It’s scandalous,” exclaims Sylvaine, a flight attendant. She will be in the procession on Tuesday in Paris alongside the firefighters, she wants to support them. "Good luck because you're on all the stops. You don't stop working. It's not normal." “We are never listened to and, after the summer, everyone forgets,” the firefighters growl.

“It’s the start of the school year. There is general amnesia for firefighters about real needs,” denounces Guillaume Civray, president of the autonomous union of Var firefighters. He recounts the intense fatigue of his colleagues after a particularly busy summer and worries about the years to come, with global warming. “The fires will multiply and we see it on the national territory that now it is no longer only the south-eastern strip and the west coast which are affected. There are more than 21,000 fires starting this summer in France, we had the Fontainebleau fire... It is historic,” he says.