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CLIMATE CRISIS

Volunteer firefighters key in France’s fight against wildfires

Volunteer firefighters make up more than three-quarters of all the nearly 252,000 firefighters in the country, according to official figures.

Volunteer firefighters key in France's fight against wildfires
Firefighters in Mostuejouls, southern France, on August 9, 2022. Photo: Valentine CHAPUIS/AFP

Volunteer firefighters have been called up from their day jobs all over France this summer to help battle wildfires. “It’s the first year we’ve been summoned so much to help outside” our region, said 23-year-old Victorien Pottier.

Volunteer firefighters make up more than three-quarters of all the nearly 252,000 firefighters in the country, according to official figures.

They have been on the frontline dousing flames this summer as the country tackles a historic drought and a series heatwaves that experts say are being driven by climate change.

These have included a huge blaze in the southwestern region of Gironde, which erupted in July and destroyed 14,000 hectares before it was contained.

But it continued to smoulder in the tinder-dry pine forests and peat-rich soil, and flared up again this week, burning a further 7,400 hectares.

When he is not on duty once every five weeks in northwest France, Pottier works preparing orders for a large dairy products manufacturer.

In the country’s southwest, Alisson Mendes, 36, a sales assistant for a prominent supermarket group, said she went to help fight the massive blaze in Gironde for two days.

She said she would be prepared to go back, but thought her chances were slim as she had heard there was a long waiting list of other volunteers hoping to go and help out. “They prioritise those who’ve never been,” she said.

France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Wednesday called on private companies to free up their volunteer firefighters so they could come and help.

Large companies, including the national gas and electricity providers, on Friday said they would do their best. 

So did Pottier’s dairy product company.

In the beginning, it was not very enthusiastic about him volunteering his time, says Pottier, who has been on call to fight fires for more than three and a half years.

Fine balance

“But then they saw what was in it for them,” he said. “We’re good at spotting risky situations within the company, which helps to avoid work accidents.”

Each firm decides how many days they can free up those employees in a case of emergency through a deal they sign with the local firefighting and rescue services.

But Samuel Mathis, secretary general of the volunteer firefighter syndicate, says smaller companies cannot so easily afford to do without their staff.

The government “tells companies to free up volunteers,” he said. “But I don’t see how a tradesperson with just two or three employees can reasonably do without them, especially in August,” he said.

At the end of 2020, France counted 197,100 volunteer firefighters, according to official figures.

That is compared to just 41,800 professional firemen and women, and 13,000 paramilitary police trained to help out.

But when they rush to help extinguish the flames, volunteer firefighters are not paid a salary like their peers.

Instead, they are only paid compensation of barely 8 euros ($8) an hour of work — less than the national minimum wage.

Mathis, of the volunteer firefighting union, said it was too little. “It’s not nearly enough to confront flames 40 metres (130 feet) high,” he said.

It’s an issue that will need addressing as France seeks to recruit more volunteers.

The president of the National Federation of Firefighters, Gregory Allione, says a massive recruitment drive is needed to find 50,000 people to battle blazes on a voluntary basis by 2027.

Volunteers usually sign up for a five-year period that can be extended afterwards. In the past, people have stayed on for around 11-12 years.

But this has been slipping, according to Olivier Grauss, who works as a firefighter in the town of Selestat in eastern France and also volunteers in the smaller who also volunteers in a the village of Obernai “out of passion.”

The main reasons are “work, school, family.”

“There are more and more women, but often the women stop after they have a child,” said the 34-year-old, who has been a volunteer firefighter since he was 16.

Mendes, who comes from Correze in southwestern France, says “many stay for two or three years and leave because they didn’t realise there are so many constraints.”

“You are not appreciated, you get psychologically exhausted.”

Volunteer firefighters have to on a daily basis find a balance between
their professional life, their families and the volunteering.

Constant adrenaline 

Aurelie Ponzevera is a 39-year-old social worker in Corsica and has been a volunteer firefighter for about 10 years. Lack of sleep and lack of time are her biggest constraints.

She manages to find a balance by coordinating caring for her three-year-old daughter with her partner, who is a professional firefighter.

“It’s constantly organisation and anticipation. We know that when one is on call, the other one is not,” she says.

“Sometimes it’s very complicated on the emotional level, but we have to move past it and continue. But that’s part of the package with this constant adrenaline, that’s part of what draws us to it,” Ponzevera says.

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LIVING IN FRANCE

Households in south-west France see 42 percent hike in water prices

Households in south-west France face a 42 percent increase in the cost of water as local authorities introduce 'seasonal pricing' in an effort to encourage people to save water over the summer months.

Households in south-west France see 42 percent hike in water prices

The 37 communes that make up the Toulouse Métropole area – Toulouse plus the surrounding small towns and suburbs – have from June 1st introduced tarification saisonnière (seasonal tarifs) for water.

The idea is to make water more expensive in the summer and cheaper in the winter, and encourage people to save water during the summer when the area is often hit by droughts.

Between June 1st and October 31st, water will be 42 percent more expensive than the current cost per metre cubed.

For the remaining seven months it will be 30 percent cheaper than the current cost.

Householders in the Toulouse Métropole will therefore pay €4.40 per metre cubed in the summer and €2.58 per m3 in the winter.

READ ALSO How is my French water bill calculated?

The local authority says that the majority of households should see an overall saving in annual bills – due to the lower winter rate – but the idea is to encourage people to save as much water as possible in the summer, when drought often affects the area.

Of the roughly 1 million households affected, 90 percent receive their water from the Garonne, a river whose flow has been declining in recent years due to the effects of the climate crisis.

Large parts of the south-west of France are regularly placed on drought warnings during the summer, with local authorities imposing measures to limit water use – you can check the drought status of your local commune here.

Jean-Luc Moudenc, mayor of Toulouse and president of the Toulouse Métropole area, said: “The high temperatures and low rainfall observed in our region in 2022 and 2023 foreshadow the climate that the metropolis will experience in the future.

“As water is not an infinite resource, we must act collectively to preserve it.

“To adapt to climate change, Toulouse Métropole intends to reduce the amount of water taken from the Garonne by 2030, in line with the French government’s Water Plan, which calls for a 10 percent reduction. Modernisation of pipe networks to limit leaks, deployment of “intelligent” watering systems for green spaces, distribution of water-saving kits from June 2024, and rainwater recovery and storage in major development projects are just some of the solutions deployed.

“Among these measures, seasonal pricing is one of the levers for reducing day-to-day water use.

Everyone is encouraged to be more careful with their consumption, particularly from June to October, the five months of the year when water resources are at their weakest.”

Households on a low income can benefit from an exemption or spread payments – and are advised to contact their water provider.

The Toulouse Metropole is the largest area so far to introduce seasonal pricing for water, but several other towns have introduced it in recent years including Grasse in southern France, Montpellier, Libourne and Dunkirk.

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