It’s official. The presidents of the departments of Meurthe-et-Moselle and Moselle have signed a memorandum of understanding for the construction of an inter-departmental fire station. The steering committee will be responsible for setting out the details of its implementation.
According to our colleagues at the Lorraine Republican, it took more than ten years for this barracks – the only one of its kind in France on this scale – to be built. Patrick Weiten now wants things to move quickly. According to him, the foundation stone is due to be laid this year in Cantebonne, on land donated by the Villerupt local council.
A state-of-the-art barracks
For Colonel François Vallier (Director of SDIS 57), the schedule is tight. No plans have been drawn up yet, but what we do know is that the new fire station will be “ultra-modern”.
The SDIS 54 will act as the project owner, but residents of the Moselle will be involved in all decisions. Operating costs will be shared in proportion to the number of call-outs in the two areas.
Alternating command
The station commander will change every three years. Initially, an officer from the Moselle region will be in charge of this fire station. In total, around a hundred firefighters will be based there, including a dozen full-time firefighters.
The choice of location was dictated by technical and human factors. According to Colonel Jérôme Petitpoisson, departmental director of SDIS 54, the municipality of Cantebonne was the best option for retaining all the firefighters and ensuring greater synergy with their Luxembourgish counterparts.
This explanation still fails to convince Lucien Piovano, the mayor of Audun-le-Tiche, who regrets that the fire station is not being built in Micheville, as had been envisaged for a time.