Successively, helicopters and Canadair drop their water on a fire: with the approach of a summer which promises to be "very difficult", Emmanuel Macron came to the Gard on Friday to supervise the deployment of the new Civil Security resources announced after the massive wildfires of 2022.
At the Civil Security air base in Nîmes-Garons, the Head of State attended training in the air and on land. On the tarmac, a brand new Dash plane, which was delivered only a few days ago and has not flown yet.
The air resources "have been further reinforced for the summer of 2023: we are going from 38 to 47 aircraft", then confirmed the President in front of the staff gathered in a hangar. "We will continue to ramp up," he promised.
Last year, 72,000 hectares, including 60,000 hectares of forest, went up in smoke in France, and 60,000 people had to be evacuated due to the fires, which had been record in Gironde, but had also affected areas further north of France. usually spared, such as the Jura or Brittany.
It was an "unprecedented climatic event", a "very dramatic episode which affected the whole of France" with 50 departments affected by fires, recalls the entourage of the President. "We had to change the software to adapt to these new challenges."
Following this devastating summer, Mr. Macron had therefore announced in October a plan to strengthen the means of prevention and fight against fires, including planes but also new columns of mobilizable reinforcement firefighters, to reach a reinforcement of 3,660 firefighters.
On the basis of Nîmes-Garons, whose pilot, Franck Chesneau, had died while fighting the flames at Générac in the Gard in August 2019, the President of the Republic welcomed "the commitment", "as soon as the worse happens", of these "everyday heroes".
He welcomed the adaptation of the device: Nîmes will remain "the epicenter of our means", but water bomber helicopters and Dash will also be prepositioned in Bordeaux to "allow us to be more effective when the plate Southwest will be under pressure."
On the prevention front, the presidential visit coincides with the launch of a "forest weather forecast" for the general public, wanted by Mr. Macron and whose first bulletin was unveiled on Friday.
This new daily forecast map presents during the summer period at the departmental level the degree of risk by a color code ranging from green (low) to red (very high) through yellow (moderate) and orange (high) .
The weather conditions are "worsened by climate change", recalls the director of Météo France Virginie Schwarz on the spot, stressing that the areas at risk of fires "gradually move towards the North to concern almost the entire country, but also s 'extend in time'.
Objective of this new tool: to raise public awareness of the actions and behaviors to adopt to minimize the threat.
“It is vital to educate people so that they pay attention”, applauds Jérôme Faure, pilot of Beech-200, a surveillance and investigation aircraft.
Captain of Canadair, Thierry Loine ensures, at his side, that the fleet is "currently sized perfectly to defend our territory". "Perhaps we will have to grow if the fires actually spread throughout the territory".
“The weather is not an exact science, we cannot predict what will happen during the summer”, sighs the pilot again.
As of May 21, 21,000 ha had already burned in France, compared to 15,000 ha in 2022 on the same date, which makes the Elysée say that the summer which is about to begin "still promises to be very difficult".
With the approach of the new national mobilization against the pension reform now enacted, a few dozen demonstrators had gathered in Garons, although kept largely away from the base.
"We will be in action, in demonstration, on strike and at rallies, until the withdrawal of this unjust law", launched Gilles Besson, general secretary of Force Ouvrière in the Gard.
02/06/2023 16:38:11 - Garons (France) (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
