Yesterday at 4 pm, all the trade unions representing firefighters in the Gard were received by the Prefect of the Gard, following the “unbearable situation” experienced by firefighters in Nîmes during an operation in the Pissevin neighbourhood of Nîmes, on the night between last Friday and Saturday.
Speaking with one voice, staff representatives called for genuine and practical action to address the safety and violence issues faced by firefighters during their day-to-day operations.
The trade unions believe that this must be taken into account at two levels:- By the State, through genuine recognition of the hazardous nature of our profession and the associated psychosocial risks,
- By local authorities, through the allocation of the necessary funding to ensure the smooth running of the public institution. This should ensure that the institution has access to high-performance, secure equipment and a workforce capable of meeting the demands of its ever-expanding remit.
"We have strongly emphasised that, at both these levels, the public authorities have failed in their duties. The attack on our colleagues is just one more example of the escalating violence that often begins with the phone calls received at the emergency call centre and continues out in the field."
This state of tension is unacceptable and intolerable. The authorities must address the issue in a manner commensurate with the unease felt by the profession.
"We have called for strong and concrete measures to ensure that we are not forced to beg every year for the budgets needed to carry out our duties. We also assured the Prefect that we are proud to be firefighters and to carry out our duties, even in conditions that are sometimes hostile and arduous. It is, however, essential that the commitment of the public authorities matches our own. We found ourselves dealing with a government representative who listened to us and who seemed committed to bringing about rapid change, including on budgetary matters, where he promised to raise the issue with the President of the Departmental Council".
"However, having read the comments reported in the press today – which could be interpreted as calling into question the actions of our colleagues – we are clearly questioning the extent to which we can trust this interview, which we had believed to be sincere. The trade unions will monitor this matter with the utmost attention and will move swiftly to clarify the ambiguities that appear to surround this case."