“As I speak to you, we don’t have the planes we should haveChristophe Govilot, spokesman for the National Union of Civil Aviation Flight Crew (Snpnac), told AFP, who “don’t want to argue, just work“in order to”to help our fellow firefighters in the field“. Since July 12, 20,800 hectares of forest have gone up in smoke, 7,000 hectares in Teste-de-Buch and 13,800 hectares in the Landiras sector, with a perimeter of only 66 km.
About 2,000 firefighters have been mobilized from France to fight it: six Canadair (can carry about 6,000 liters of water) and two Dash (with a capacity of 10,000 liters). Means that are therefore considered insufficient.
Aging and outnumbered aircraft
The Civil Security Air Fleet, based in Nîmes, has 12 Canadairs, 6 Dash, a 7th will be operational in August, 8 in 2023, and 3 Beechcraft, according to Civil Security spokesman Alexandre Joissard. It’s not mechanics for Christoph Govilo.Not enough people to do all the repairs, not enough spare partsand the private service provider responsible for maintenance, Sabena Technics,not suitable“. “The plane’s engine is already a month old“and”Repairs that should take 2-3 hours take 5 or 6 and are not very successful as the planes break down several days in a row.“, laments the trade unionist.
According to Laurent Michel, a former naval aviation pilot who went on to spend 22 years in Civil Defense;Four of the 12 canadairs were unavailable, and only five on the Dash because the sixth regularly fails. A situation that has been condemned for several years“. About the service, the former pilot condemns the new method of visiting. “Previously, the bombers were all supposed to be ready on June 15, but the well-thought-out Parisian mastermind; (so) decided that tours should be year-round. Because of this, planes inevitably become immobile during the summer“.
Also, the oldest aircraft dates back to 1995. The Trackers were supposed to be decommissioned in 2008 and then in 2020, but “The lack of anticipation did not allow for a good updateLaurent Michelet regrets. Visiting La Teste-de-Buch with firefighters, Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday that he wanted “buy morefire engines. The 22 aircraft with which the civil defense is armed were “enough in recent years. (…) Do we need more? The answer is yesHe judged, stressing that this increased fleet will be European and called.redistribute industrial strategyto build these devices.
A new method of monitoring
Laurent Michel also regrets the bombers’ new method of intervention. Reminding that heIt is difficult to quantify the intervention fleet regardless of peak activity“, return “to the initial fire attack conceptcan be a solution. Through the GAAR (Armed Air Delay Watch), medium-tonnage aircraft loaded with product will constantly fly over the area, particularly southern France and Corsica, which are more prone to fire outbreaks. A method that will enable the flames to attack faster and with greater reactivity.
“We certainly need a fleet that can design itself, but also a fleet of small, low-cost aircraft scattered throughout the area that will meet the demands of local elected officials and this strategy.– thinks the former driver. Especially as global warming pushes fire epicenters back to the northwest. “Emmanuel Macron was lucky that Provence and Corsica were in limited danger during this heat wave. Everything is normal at the moment. In Bordeaux, the tide turned, and thanks to the efforts of firefighters, the fires were contained.“, he concludes.
Source: Le Figaro
