Forum Pompier : le forum dédié au métier de sapeur-pompier

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axeman a écrit:

JohnElias,
It is a real pity that you could not talk with him because he knows well the French system.

He lives near me, so I hope to find a chance to speak with him soon. He is chief of a department that I want to work for, so I don't want to become known to him as "the guy who always wants to know about the French".

Citation:

We do not have smokejumpers but some fire departments (the France is divided in 100 areas called “departement” and each departement has its own fire department) have special teams to be brought by helicopter on the fire. They are setting down in steep areas only. In France, as Seneque said, the forests are crossed by a lot of roads, then our method is to go as close as possible to the fire.

No smokejumpers, but are the "special teams to be brought by helicopter" dedicated to helicopter firefighting? Here they are, that's all they do. But we also have arrangements where normal firefighters on a fire truck will be picked up by helicopter and taken to an emergency. Is France more like that?

Citation:

Concerning the safety, the recent wildland fire engines have emergency system. The one Mike told to you is a system composed by a pipe with spray nozzles around the cab. In case of emergency, you just have to push a button in the cab and the water from the engine tank is sprayed on the cab and tires. Most of our wildland engines are equipped with a breathing system and the cab is pressurized to avoid smokes to get into.

I'm really impressed by that system. The way I first heard it, it didn't make sense, but now I see it as a really good idea.

axeman a écrit:

When Casper49 says “sport”, he means physical training even if we make sometimes some sport (in the English meaning).

So do we. Most of our physical training is running, hiking, and weight lifting, but sometimes we play baseball or European football.

Citation:

In France, if you want to become a professional firefighter, you have to pass a selective examination. If you succeed, you can apply in all fire departments in France. But it is quite difficult nowadays because there are more people who succeed to the examination than there are available jobs.
When you have a job as a professional firefighter, you become a king of state employee and then, you will keep your job for your entire life.

Concerning Paris and Marseille, firefighters are military for historical reasons. In these two cities, a big fire (1810 in Paris and in 1938 in Marseille) had not been properly fought by the civilian fire department. To reorganize them and make them more efficient, authorities decided to militarize them. Most of military firefighters become civilian firefighters after a few years in Paris or Marseille.

Thank you. So most military firefighters find jobs as civilian firefighters after their military service. That was something I was very curious about. The historical reasons for having military fire brigades in Paris and Marseille also include their strategic military value, no?

John,

If you have facebook, you can add this man as a friend.

It's a French who went to US in order to become a Firefighter, he wasn't firefighter in France but he even knows some facts about us. I think if you ask him questions he will reply you without any problem ;)

Concerning dozers and firefighters dropped near fire by copter, the French "Civilian Security", which depends of the army, owns some bulldozers which respond if units need them onsite.

Civilian security has also some copters which drop mens near fire (when I say "drop", the copter has to touch the ground and then the mens go out of the copter, or they can also go out sing a rope SWAT style respondings if you see what I mean).

Other members will correct me if I'm wrong, but in my opinion part of the french forest firefighting is like that smile_top