Marseille (AFP)

Case filled with swabs and test tubes or machine responsible for collecting air in rooms possibly contaminated by the Covid-19: the Marseille firefighters displayed their skills in detection and virus treatment.

In the courtyard of the Grande Bastide nursery school, the Marseille firefighters put on their waterproof overalls, a double pair of gloves and protective glasses. Mission of the day for these professionals trained in nuclear, radiological, biological, chemical and explosive risk: carry out a demonstration of samples from children's coat racks, doorknobs, dormitory cushions or the teachers' photocopier.

At their disposal, the firefighters, who benefit from one of the five French mobile laboratories in the field of civil security, have, in addition to classic sticks used for sampling on surfaces, a "biocollector". Usually used by the army in particular against the risk of sarin gas, the small machine can extract 600 liters of air in one minute, and thus know after analysis of the collected elements, if the part is contaminated by coronavirus, everything within 48 hours.

If the result is positive, firefighters can use three equally "novel" disinfection methods, including the transformation of oxygen into ozone. The ozone cloud released by a seemingly very basic device kills the virus before a ventilator evacuates the toxic gas from the room. Thanks to this process "textiles as well as paper can be treated without being altered", explains Alexandre Lacoste, one of the protocol managers.

Other methods, treatment with hard rays (UVC) or heating towers which blow air at 70 ° C for 30 minutes to destroy the coronavirus.

The protocol "unprecedented has already been tested on fifty strategic sites receiving the public, such as on the aircraft carrier Charles-de-Gaulle or at the Ministry of Defense and that of the Interior", welcomes the deputy mayor delegate to the battalion of firefighters, Julien Ruas.

"With the establishment of this + task force ° (operational force) of the BMPM, we can immediately react", continues the elected LR whose municipality also offered its 3,000 agents employed in its schools to take a test detection of the coronavirus at the University Hospital Institute (IHU) before the highly contested return of schoolchildren from May 11.

© 2020 AFP