At the National Assembly, Gérald Darmanin, the Minister of the Interior, wanted to show that France was equipped to deal with fires and drought by stressing that it had "the largest fleet in Europe, with in particular 21 planes and 35 helicopters”.
If we compare with Spain, it is false: the country has 30 planes and 31 helicopters in its fight against fires, indicated a press release from the Spanish Interior Ministry in June.
"We don't have the largest fleet of water bombers in Europe, but this battle no longer interests us", maintains, for his part, Christophe Govillot, pilot of Canadair and representative of the National Union of Aircrew of the Air Force. civil aeronautics.
He prefers to plan “to face the challenges of global warming”.
Has Gérald Darmanin (once again?) moved a little too quickly on the figures?
On July 19, tackled in the National Assembly by an elected Nupes on the means of fighting fires, deemed insufficient at the human and material level in the face of drought and climate change, the Minister of the Interior wanted to show his muscles .
"France has the largest fleet in Europe, with 21 planes and 35 helicopters in particular," he replied.
Since 2017, we have increased the Civil Security budget by 44%.
Rather than argue, let's support our firefighters who do an admirable job!
The argument, taken up by other ministers, was also vilified on social networks, the aging of the fleet having been singled out.
FAKE OFF
Gérald Darmanin's statement is false if one is fussy, and deserves to be widely nuanced.
Because the comparison is not necessarily relevant: the devices differ according to their specificities, their ability to drop and also according to the needs and the mode of operation of the civil protection of each country.
France has at its disposal twelve Canadair, amphibious planes which scoop and drop water, six Dash 8, jumbo jets which drop water or a delayed product and "are specialized in surveillance , then in the fight [against the fires], ”explains Christophe Govillot, Canadair pilot and representative of the National Union of Civil Aeronautics Flight Crew (SNPNAC).
"That's 18 water bomber planes in France, that's the real figure, the one we have on a daily basis," he says.
Added to this are three observation aircraft, or 21 aircraft, a figure given by Gérald Darmanin.
France also has 35 dragon helicopters, which are used for reconnaissance and personnel transport, and rents 2 water bomber helicopters, according to the plan communicated by the Ministry of the Interior, i.e. a fleet of 58 aircraft.
A seventh Dash will be operational in “about ten days”, specifies Commander Alexandre Jouassard, spokesperson for Civil Security.
Spain has 34 water bombers
In total, Spain "has" a larger fleet than France with 30 planes and 31 helicopters, or 61 aircraft, according to figures published in June in a press release from the Spanish Interior Ministry, which opened a call for tenders to replace out-of-service units.
But a small subtlety, the Spanish state only owns its Canadair, the other planes and helicopters are the property of private companies and are therefore rented, indicates the site of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
If we look at the details of the water bomber planes and helicopters owned or rented: Spain has 34 aircraft and France 20 (counting the rental of the 2 water bomber helicopters).
Last comparison: the Italian fleet consists, for this 2022 fire season, of 15 Canadair planes and 5 water bomber helicopters, i.e. a fleet of 19 water bomber aircraft.
In addition, there are 14 other helicopters from the Ministry of Defence, the fire brigade and the Carabinieri, according to figures from the Italian civil protection department.
“We have one of the largest fleets in Europe for water bomber planes”, nuances Commander Alexandre Jouassard, who adds that the French fleet is the largest in terms of number of aircraft.
Confronted with the figures mentioned by the site of the Spanish government, he tells us that the declaration was based on elements sent by the Spanish Ministry of the Interior.
“The objective is not to block one or two planes close”, he comments, preferring to speak of “one of the most substantial fleets in Europe”.
"We must project ourselves in the face of the challenges of global warming"
What can we conclude from this battle of numbers?
Not much.
Christophe Govillot is annoyed by it: “No, we don't have the largest fleet of water bombers in Europe, but this battle no longer interests us,” he says.
We need to project ourselves to see how to articulate civil protection to meet the challenges of global warming and we need to launch programs now.
»
The trade unionist had again alerted in early July on the state of the French fleet.
He has since noted the progress made by the maintenance company.
"We do with the means we currently have, it is just necessary that these means are available and that we have enough personnel to be effective", he pleads.
Emmanuel Macron promises to buy more planes
Visiting Gironde on Wednesday July 20, Emmanuel Macron announced that France would have to "buy more" firefighting planes and was requisitioning two additional heavy water bomber helicopters to intervene in the region.
A decree presented to the Council of Ministers will make it easier to requisition devices to fight forest fires.
Faced with an exceptional fire season, “with simultaneous fires in Brittany, Maine-et-Loire and in the south and west of France, which had never happened, points out Commander Alexandre Jouassard, we are reaching a capacity limit”.
If he indicates that until now the means were sufficient, he supports their increase to "respond to an exceptional situation like at the moment".
These means will go through a European civil security fleet defended Emmanuel Macron at Teste-de-Buch.
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