In a recent announcement, the departmental director of the Vaucluse fire service, Comptroller-General Jean-Yves Noisette, has asked his staff to be clean-shaven.
Beards are now banned for firefighters in Vaucluse. Fire stations have recently received a memo instructing them to shave off their beards. This is a safety and prevention measure that applies to both professional and volunteer firefighters. There are, however, some exceptions for volunteers.
"It’s easy to imagine a volunteer firefighter – a farmer – who’s out in his field on a Sunday afternoon, who hasn’t shaved since Friday, and who’s about to be paged; we’re not going to ask him to go home and shave before heading out on a call." explains the director of SDIS 84 to our colleagues atEurope1, adding, "When taking up guard duty", however, "we will require men to be clean-shaven, as this is now a statutory safety measure".
Less efficient equipment
Beard hair would prevent the equipment from functioning effectively, particularly that designed to protect firefighters’ airways during a fire or any other operation involving chemical, radiological, biological or health risks. The Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Crisis Management explains that this protection “can only be guaranteed when the mask is in direct contact with the skin”. The equipment must therefore be worn on shaved skin.
Men with moustaches are exempt from this rule “provided that it does not compromise the seal of the face mask”.