France continues to burn this weekend of August 14, 2022. In Gironde and Aveyron, the fires have not yet been fixed; in the Jura, they resumed the day before, taking 13 more hectares with them; in the Monts d’Arrée, the fire is still present but no longer progressing; the fire in the Brocéliande forest consumed 400 hectares but was fixed, the same for that of Maine-et-Loire, near Angers, which burned 160 hectares.
Once all the fires have been brought under control, Emmanuel Macron intends to bring together all the players in the affected departments, reports the Journal du Dimanche: firefighters, pilots, reinforcements from overseas and the European Union, farmers and elected officials. The entourage of the President of the Republic suggests there that he wishes to “thank them” but also “to open the work on the evolution of the model of prevention and fight against fires”. He has already started by exchanging by telephone with firefighters and elected officials from the Jura, where 1,062 hectares have burned according to France Bleu. The president of the department, Clément Pernot (various right), described him as “very attentive and eager to build on the existing to improve the system”.
During a trip to Gironde on August 11, 2022, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said that the government would “work on strengthening the means of civil society”. In a column also published in the Journal du Dimanche, firefighter associations point out that “our civil security system, which makes it possible to limit more than 90% of fires to less than 5 hectares, must adapt in a sustainable way to respond [ to the effects of climate change]” and ask for more resources. “Climate change is going to be here to stay and hit us all harder and harder. […] Under these conditions, it is imperative to release new resources to adapt our human and material resources throughout the territory”, they warn.
To do this, they propose to review the distribution of the special tax on insurance agreements (TSCA), which finances the fire and rescue services (SDIS) but also local taxation, the national family allowance fund , the national health insurance fund or the national bar council. “Allowing a doubling of the share of TSCA which would be paid directly to the SDIS would make it possible to better protect the French, without increasing taxes but by making contributions from players who save money and will continue to do so, continue the authors of the forum. . This reflection must be carried out now, within the framework of the finance bill for 2023.
