Firefighters: green light for the professional licence and progress made

In the presence of representatives from the National Federation of French Firefighters (FNSPF), the National Conference of Fire and Rescue Services (CNSIS) met on Thursday 31 May 2018. Among the matters discussed were the go-ahead for the professional ID card and progress regarding volunteer firefighters (SPV) (SSSM, increase in hourly allowances, NPFR, etc.). Two sets of draft legislation were submitted to the Conference for its opinion. The first concerns the creation of secure professional identity cards for firefighters and PATS within the SIS. The draft decree presented, which aims to entrust the Imprimerie nationale with the implementation of a single national card model, received unanimous approval. This secure card will enable the SIS, in the current security context, to identify their staff internally, to members of the public and to other services, in particular the police. Advanced functions (such as access control to premises, electronic signatures and access to sensitive information) may be added according to the SIS’s requirements; the SIS will be able to procure these cards through a simplified procedure, without advertising or competitive tendering. The second strand forms part of the national policy to support volunteering: Draft decrees and orders relating to the SPVs that are members of the SSSM: these texts, which have received a favourable opinion (unanimous with two votes against), amend several regulatory provisions of the Internal Security Code and the General Code for Local Authorities in order to encourage volunteering within the SSSM, in addition to the necessary measures to enhance the SSSM’s statutory appeal, as called for by the FNSPF and all other representatives of the fire service: raising the retirement age for volunteer doctors and pharmacists from 68 to 70; the recruitment of pharmacy students to the ranks of cadet and lieutenant; accelerated promotion for ISPVs who are also healthcare managers (access to the rank of captain in 3 years instead of 5); and the deployment of experts within the SSSM.

+1% for the PFF

Draft decrees setting the amount of the basic hourly allowance and the new loyalty and recognition allowance (NPFR) for voluntary fire service personnel for the year 2018: these texts, which received unanimous approval, provide for a 1 per cent increase, in line with the 2017 inflation rate as defined by INSEE, and with the agreement reached between the governing bodies at the signing of the 2013 National Commitment to Volunteering. President Olivier RICHEFOU, Senator Catherine TROENDLE, Vice-President of the Conference and President of the National Council of SPVs (CNSPV), and Eric FAURE, President of the FNSPF, then expressed their wish, during the presentation of their joint report with MP Fabien MATRAS and Pierre BRAJEUX – submitted to the Minister for the Interior on 23 May as part of the Volunteering Task Force – that the government’s consideration of the 43 proposals set out in this report would enable the announcement, at the Bourg-en-Bresse congress, the creation of a genuine national public policy in support of voluntary firefighting, reaffirmed as an altruistic and generous commitment forming part of a resolute ambition to increase the number of volunteers.