In an interim ruling dated 10 September and published online on 21 November, the Court of Auditors warns that the Paris Fire Brigade is facing an excessive operational workload, which must be brought under control.
Here are some extracts from this document and some telling figures: "All indicators measuring the unit’s level of engagement show that its operational workload is too high. This excessive operational workload stems disproportionately from victim rescue operations (SAV): in 2017, 405,766 call-outs – or 80.8 per cent of the total – fell into this category, whilst the 14,480 fire-fighting operations accounted for just 2.9 per cent of activity. Furthermore, the BSPP carried out 11 per cent of all call-outs across France using 2.4 per cent of the rescue vehicles and 3.2 per cent of the fire service workforce. For 40 per cent of the rescue vehicles, this amounts to more than 10 hours of call-out time per vehicle per day. Nearly two-thirds of the fire service’s personnel are deployed daily between 11.00 and 20.00, making it difficult to guarantee an adequate response in the event of a major incident or the simultaneous implementation of several emergency plans.
The operational model, designed to handle 450,000 call-outs, is being strained by 70,000 to 100,000 avoidable call-outs – even though the total has already exceeded 500,000 – which are disrupting emergency response operations. This situation will be unsustainable by 2022 if current trends continue; this ‘overload’ is leading to a drain on human resources and a marked decline in the renewal rate following the first contract period for Paris firefighters, which fell from 75 per cent to 54 per cent between mid-2015 and mid-2018. (...) Furthermore, the 60 per cent rise in assaults in 2018 – including one fatal incident – bringing the number of service personnel attacked to 317 in that year alone, is becoming a real obstacle to staff retention, quite apart from any other considerations relating to public order.".
The full report is available in by clicking here.