NEWS IN BRIEF. French fire services have seen a significant rise in the number of call-outs to fires. According to the latest figures, released by the Ministry of the Interior on Friday, firefighters responded to 306,000 fire calls in 2017, compared with 285,700 in 2016.
A 7 per cent increase that overturns previous statistics, which had shown a 5 per cent fall in this type of call-out. It is only at the end of the year that the Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Crisis Management (DGSCGC) publishes the full statistics for the fire and rescue services from the previous year. We will have to wait until the end of 2019 to see this year’s figures.