• In Rennes, the historic barracks in the city center closed its doors on Thursday to move to a site a little further away.

  • Field firefighters then worry about the time it will take to intervene in the city center.

  • The emergency services will be able to use a bus lane in order to have priority, but the firefighters are worried about the heavy traffic present on this east-west axis.

“We absolutely did not want to spoil the party.

This party, we're going to do it.

But we had questions that we wanted to share.

As the parade of Rennes firefighters had just started, all the staff of the Saint-Georges barracks blocked the convoy celebrating the move of the place.

Installed in historic buildings since 1926, firefighters have been waiting for years for the new Moulin-de-Joué rescue center to be operational.

Is it on this moving day?

The men and women in the field doubt it.

“There are always companies that intervene on the spot while agents go to work there 24 hours a day.

We do not understand the urgency there was to move, we find it a bit premature.

We could have waited until September,” explains Staff Sergeant Devrig Guiho,

Among the demands of the staff, there are also concerns about the travel time they will now need to intervene in the city center.

On this point, the hierarchy is clear.

"In practice, it doesn't change anything.

There is little or no impact on the response time in the city center,” assures Colonel Daoudal.

Rescue and fire vehicles will be able to use the lanes dedicated to buses, and therefore arrive very quickly in the historic center.

“The two more minutes in the truck, we will use them to think about how to position our machines”, assures the colonel.

Moment of emotion in #Rennes for the move to the Saint-Georges barracks.

The old vehicles are out.

All firefighters are present @SDIS35officiel @20Minutes pic.twitter.com/c3vCCiiuWI

— 20 Minutes Rennes (@20minutesrennes) June 16, 2022


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An observation that firefighters do not necessarily share.

“We haven't had the opportunity to go into action yet.

But we know that the bus lane during the day is excessively taken up by buses, taxis and paramedics.

It's a very busy thoroughfare, with people crossing it as they would cross a pedestrian street.

It is rather in our interest to be very, very vigilant if we take this route.

At night, if we are not, we can have people crossing, ”explains Patrice Floc'h, who has also been in post for eighteen years in Saint-Georges.

Already a fatal accident with the police

In 2020, a young woman had died and a young man had been injured on this axis, hit by a police vehicle which was going to intervene.

The two victims had crossed on a protected passage installed on the public transport lanes, but were probably hidden by a stopped bus.

This Thursday, when parading through the streets of Rennes, many men and women felt a form of nostalgia when they saw a chapter in the history of the city close.

Passing in front of the Parliament of Brittany, many of them thought back to the violent fire of 1994 which had set the entire roof of the building, now rebuilt, ablaze.

As for the liberated barracks, it will gradually be transformed into a citizen's house and will house many municipal services.

reindeer

Rennes: Firefighters pack their boxes and say goodbye to Saint-Georges and the city center

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