- May 11 and the days that follow are feared by the Bouches-du-Rhône firefighters.
- They fear indeed a sudden increase in activity related to containment.
- They fear above all a "relaxation" in the behavior of each other, which would promote the spread of the virus.
On May 11, deconfinement will be synonymous with relief for many French people, delighted to be able to practice an individual physical activity or find a semblance of social life. Not for the Bouches-du-Rhône firefighters. In the front line for months in the fight against the coronavirus, they fear the consequences of what appears to be a new life made of strangers and risks. The deconfinement could in particular generate a brutal increase in interventions, after a drastic fall of 30% last March.
"The deconfinement is likely to be a difficult and delicate phase for the firefighters, fears Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolas Faure, spokesperson for the Bouches-du-Rhône firefighters. It will lead to more human, economic, social and leisure activities. This means more risks that will have to be addressed. At the same time, the virus is still present. We know that collective immunity is not acquired. There is always the risk of a rebound in the epidemic. It will be necessary to combine the evolution of everyday life with the epidemic, even with the arrival of the forest fire season. "
The specter of a "relaxation"
Very concretely, Lieutenant-Colonel Faure feared "a rise in traffic accidents" and was alarmed by potential industrial risks linked to the "restart of certain risky activities", numerous in Bouches-du-Rhône. But above all, firefighters fear a "loosening of the population" which would promote the spread of the virus.
To cope, the latter are already organizing themselves, in particular to protect themselves. A stock of 115,000 masks is thus constantly supplied for distribution to the department's firefighters, who for the time being only deplore around thirty cases of coronavirus in their ranks. The firefighters also made their own hydroalcoholic gel.
"We have the human and material resources"
"We have the human and material resources," insists Lieutenant-Colonel Faure. We have prepared several scenarios, either a return to normal or a worsening of the situation, so as to each time adjust the workforce and the operational response. It is not a diagram that is frozen every time. It will be adapted according to the indicators that we set daily. "
Gradually, while men had been put to rest to preserve them, it is now a matter of finding the usual level of guard, of the order of 500 firefighters, or even exceeding it if necessary. For this, the firefighters hope to rely on the reserve of 4,500 volunteer firefighters ... Even if a large number of them will probably be unavailable for professional reasons related to the resumption of activity in the economy.
"But, at the same time, we may be recovering the student public, who does not necessarily have an exam to prepare, or even the high school students," hopes Jean Beccari, deputy director of the Bouches-du-Rhône fire department. "But to deal with all these risks associated with deconfinement, we also count on everyone's good behavior, so that everything goes more or less well ...", breathes Lieutenant-Colonel Faure.
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- Confinement
- Coronavirus
- Video
- epidemic
- Deconfinement
- Firefighters