Fire services in France

The fire service in France is organised into local fire services which mostly cover the Departments of France, with a few exceptions. There are two types of fire service:

  • The Paris Fire Brigade (Army) and Marseille Naval Fire Battalion (Navy) are military units providing fire protection to Paris and Marseille.
  • The rest of France has civilian fire services organized, supervised and trained by the French Ministry of the Interior; specifically, they fall under the Civil Defence and Security Directorate (Direction Générale de la Sécurité Civile et de la Gestion de Crise, DGSCGC).
French civilian firemen.
French fire engine.
The Paris Fire Brigade at the Bastille Day Military Parade.
French Fire brigade Citroën Berlingo in Les Sables-dOlonne

There are approximately 246,900 fire service personnel in France operating 15,642 emergency vehicles out of 6,894 emergency centres.[1] In addition to providing fire protection and rescue, the French fire service is also one of the providers of emergency medical services.[2]

In French, firefighters are known as sapeurs-pompiers or informally as pompiers. The former originally refers to the military-based Paris Fire Brigade. Pompier (firefighter) comes from the word for "pump", referring to the manual pumps originally used for firefighting. Sapeur means "sapper" and refers to the first official firefighting unit created by Napoleon I which was part of the military engineering arm. Firefighters in the Marseille Marine Fire Battalion are known as marins-pompiers (sailor-firefighters). The usual name of a civilian fire services is a service départemental d'incendie et de secours (SDIS) (Departmental Fire and Rescue Service). Young French citizens can fulfill the mandatory service Service national universel (SNU) in one of the fire brigades.[3][4]

Organization

The fire service is organized based on the various Departments. Each department has a Service Departmentaux d'Incendie et de Secours (SDIS, Departmental Fire and Rescue Service) responsible for operations within its territory, with a few exceptions:

  • Paris and the three departments of the petite couronne (Hauts-de-Seine, Seine-Saint-Denis and Val-de-Marne) are covered by the Paris Fire Brigade.
  • Bouches-du-Rhône is covered by both the Marseille Naval Fire Battalion and a civilian Bouches-du-Rhône SDIS.
  • Lyon Metropolis and Rhône are both covered by the Rhône SDIS, reflecting Rhône's boundaries before 2015.
  • Corsica is divided between two fire services, reflecting the departments that existed from 1975 to 2017.

Fire service based Emergency Medical Services
Ambulance (officially a VSAV) of the French fire service in Strasbourg, France

Local fire departments also respond to medical calls, and can send an ambulance, a multi-purpose response vehicle or even a fire apparatus.[5] Here, the cross-trained firefighters will provide on scene care and transport for injuries or illness, but are usually backed up by a SMUR unit for more serious or complex cases. Firefighters are trained to provide basic life support (BLS) level care.

Although they also transport casualties and are, in any practical sense, ambulances, their vehicles are instead called a VSAV (véhicule de secours et d'assistance aux victimes – rescue and casualty assistance vehicle).[6] Volunteer-staffed ambulances may be called a VPS (véhicules de premiers secours – first aid vehicle). The VSAV and VPS are considered to be means of bringing rescue workers and equipment onsite, with the evacuation of patients being only the logical result of the response, but not the primary duty of these response resources.

Personnel and rank insignia
Personnel strength of the French Fire Services 2015
Category Status Number
of fire fighters
and paramedics
Civilian fire servicesprofessionals40,354
Civilian fire servicesvolunteers168,727
Volunteer fire brigades [lower-alpha 1]volunteers13,631
Fire Services EMSprofessionals
volunteers		11,910
Military fire services [lower-alpha 2]military11,752
Military fire services EMSmilitary173
  1. Not integrated into the fire services.
  2. Including the Emergency Preparedness
    and Response Units from the
    French Combat engineering corps
Source:[1]

As of December 2015, there were 246,900 firefighters in France:[1]

  • 78% voluntary/call firefighters
  • 22% career firefighters, including:

In addition, they employed 11,910 medical responders, and 10,900 administrative and support personnel. The jeunes sapeurs-pompiers (Junior fighters) and cadets numbered 27,800.

Civilian professional fire fighters are local government civil servants of class A, B, and C. Civil servants class A and B, and their volunteer counterparts, are trained at the National Fire College, École nationale supérieure des officiers de sapeurs-pompiers.[7] Given their military origin, rank insignia follow those of the French Army.

Class C

Professional fire fighters class C are recruited from volunteer fire fighters or youth fire fighters, age 18 or above, with three years service as Sapper without a civil service exam. Corporals can be recruited with a civil service exam open to direct entry candidates who passed middle school, and through a civil service exam open to volunteer fire fighters or youth fire fighters, with three years service. In 2017, Sapeur de 1re classe was abolished and Sapeur de 2e classe was replaced by the rank of Sapeur,[8] except for volunteers whose grades remained unchanged.

Promotion to Corporal can occur after three years as Sapper; to Chief Corporal after five years as Corporal.[9] Sergents are selected through a civil service exam open to team leaders.[10] Promotion to Adjudant and Chief Adjudant can occur after four years as Sergeant/Chief Sergeant.[10]

Since 2013, Chief Adjutant is the highest NCO rank of most departments as the rank of Major has been abolished.

Grade[11][12] Insignia Basic role
Sapeur 2e classe Team Member
Sapeur de 1re classe

(Volunteers only)

 Team Member
Caporal Team Member

Team Leader

Caporal-chef Team Leader
Sergent Crew Commander
one fire appliance with one team
Sergent-chef Ditto
three years in the grade
Adjudant Senior Crew Commander
one fire appliance with two teams
Adjudant-chef Ditto
three years in the grade

Class B

Professional fire fighters class B are recruited through civil service exams open to direct entry candidates with a foundation degree in engineering, and to fire fighters class C with four years service, leading to employment as Lieutenant 1st class; and through a civil service exam open to fire fighters class C qualified as senior crew commanders, leading to employment as Lieutenant 2nd class.[13] 75% of the promotions from Lieutenant 2nd class to Lieutenant 1st class are through a civil service exam open to Lieutenants 2nd class with three years in the grade; 25 % through selection from Lieutenants 2nd class with five years in the grade. 75 % of the promotions from Lieutenant 1st class to Lieutenant above class are through a civil service exam open to Lieutenants 1st class with three years in the grade; 25 % through selection from Lieutenants 1st class with five years in the grade.[14] Direct entry lieutenants 1st class are undergoing a 32 weeks course at the French Fire College (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Officiers de Sapeurs-Pompiers). Lieutenants 2nd class are undergoing a 12-week course at the Fire College, while Lieutenants 1st class promoted from 2nd class, are in addition undergoing a course of 6 weeks.[15][16][17]

Grade[11][12] Insignia Basic roles
Expert
Lieutenant de 2e classe Incident Commander Bronze/Sector Commander
2-4 crews
Station Manager
Nine or less professional fire fighters
Lieutenant de 1re classe Incident Commander Bronze/Sector Commander
2-4 crews
Station Manager
Ten or more professional fire fighters
Lieutenant hors classe Incident Commander Bronze/Sector Commander
2-4 crews
Station Manager
Twenty or more professional fire fighters

Class A

Professional fire fighters class A are recruited through civil service exams open to direct entry candidates with a bachelor's degree in engineering, and to fire fighters class B qualified as sector commanders.[18] Commandants are selected through a civil service exam from captains with three years in the grade; lieutenant-colonels from commandants with five years in the grade.[18] Direct entry captains are undergoing a 42-week course, and internal entry captains a 10-week course, at the National Fire College.[19][20]

Grade[11][12] Insignia Basic roles
Capitaine Incident Commander Silver/Operations Commander
2-4 sectors
Station Manager
Thirty or more professional fire fighters
Commandant Incident Commander Gold
Incident Commander Silver/Operations Commander
2-4 sectors
Area Manager
Station Manager
Fifty or more professional fire fighters
Lieutenant-colonel Incident Commander Gold
Area Manager
Station Manager
Hundred or more professional fire fighters

Class A+

Professional fire fighters class A+ hold senior management positions, such as brigade manager, deputy brigade manager, or senior expert for the government.[21]

Colonels are recruited through civil service exams open to fire fighters class A qualified as area managers. The laureates are undergoing a 32-week course at the National Fire College.[22]

Colonels hors-classe are selected from colonels with four years in the grade; contrôleurs généraux from colonels hors-classe with at least 8 years of experience as brigade manager, senior manager for the government, or similar positions that are listed by a decree.[21]

The contrôleur général insignia has 2 pyres. However, some officers who handle special responsibilities within the government can have a 3 pyres insignia.[11][23]

Grade[11][12] Insignia Basic roles
Colonel Brigade Manager
Deputy Brigade Manager
Incident Commander Gold
Area Manager
Colonel hors-classe Brigade Manager
Deputy Brigade Manager
Incident Commander Gold
Area Manager
Contrôleur général Brigade Manager
Deputy Brigade Manager
Incident Commander Gold
Area Manager
Contrôleur général Brigade Manager
Deputy Brigade Manager
Incident Commander Gold
Area Manager

Responses

In 2015, the French fire services responded to 4,453,300 incidents, most of which were medical:[1]

  • Fires 300,700
  • Traffic collisions 279,400
  • Medical emergencies 3,413,300
  • Technologic emergencies 53,200
  • Other 406,700

Paris and Marseille comprise 10% of the national total.

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Firefighting in France.

References
  1. "Les statistiques des services d'incendie et de secours 2016" [Statistics of the fire and rescue services 2016] (PDF) (in French). Retrieved 2017-02-16.
  2. "French Fire-based VPS". Archived from the original on March 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  3. "France begins trial of compulsory civic service for teens". 16 June 2019.
  4. "France's raw recruits sign up for return of national service". BBC News. 25 June 2019.
  5. "Paris Fire Department". Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  6. "French Fire-based VPS". Archived from the original on March 14, 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  7. "Missions de l'ENSOP." Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Officiers de Sapeurs-Pompiers. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  8. "Décret n° 2017-164 du 9 février 2017 modifiant le décret n° 2012-520 du 20 avril 2012 portant statut particulier du cadre d'emplois des sapeurs et caporaux de sapeurs-pompiers professionnels" [Decree No. 2017-164 of February 9, 2017 amending Decree No. 2012-520 of April 20, 2012 on the special status of the employment framework of firefighters and corporals of professional firefighters]. legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  9. "Décret n° 2012-520 du 20 avril 2012 portant statut particulier du cadre d'emplois des sapeurs et caporaux de sapeurs-pompiers professionnels" [Decree No. 2012-520 of April 20, 2012 on the special status of the employment framework of firefighters and corporals of professional firefighters]. legifrance.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  10. "Décret n° 2012-521 du 20 avril 2012 portant statut particulier du cadre d'emplois des sous-officiers de sapeurs-pompiers professionnels, Chapitre II, Article 4" [Decree No. 2012-521 of April 20, 2012 on the special status of the employment framework of non-commissioned officers of professional firefighters, Chapter II, Article 4.]. Legifrance (in French). Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  11. "Arrêté du 8 avril 2015 modifié fixant les tenues, uniformes, équipements, insignes et attributs des sapeurs-pompiers" [Order of April 8, 2015 amended fixing the outfits, uniforms, equipment, insignia and attributes of firefighters] (PDF). interieur.gouv.fr (in French). Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  12. "Décret n°90-850 du 25 septembre 1990 portant dispositions communes à l'ensemble des sapeurs-pompiers professionnels" [Decree No. 90-850 of September 25, 1990 laying down provisions common to all professional firefighters] (in French). Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  13. "Décret n° 2012-522 du 20 avril 2012 portant statut particulier du cadre d'emplois des lieutenants de sapeurs-pompiers professionnels" [Decree No. 2012-522 of April 20, 2012 on the special status of the employment framework of professional firefighter lieutenants]. Legifrance (in French). Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  14. "Brochure réforme de la filière SP" [Brochure reform of the SP sector] (PDF). Le SDIS de Maine-et-Loire (in French). Retrieved 2017-02-14.
  15. "Formations d'intégration de lieutenants de 1° classe (FILT 1C)" [Integration training for 1st class lieutenants (FILT 1C)] (in French). Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  16. "Formations d'intégration de lieutenants de 2° classe (FILT 2C)" [Integration training for 2nd class lieutenants (FILT 2C)] (in French). Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  17. "Formations d'adaptation de lieutenants de 1° classe (FALT 1C)" [Adaptation training for 1st class lieutenants (FALT 1C)] (in French). Retrieved 2017-03-29.
  18. "Décret n° 2016-2008 du 30 décembre 2016 portant statut particulier du cadre d'emplois des capitaines, commandants et lieutenants-colonels de sapeurs-pompiers professionne". legifrance. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  19. Formations d’intégration de capitaine de SPP (FIC) Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  20. Formations d’adaptation de capitaine de SPP (FAC) Retrieved 2017-03-28.
  21. "Décret n° 2016-2002 du 30 décembre 2016 portant statut particulier du cadre d'emplois de conception et de direction des sapeurs-pompiers professionnels". legifrance. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  22. "Arrêté du 4 janvier 2017 relatif à la formation des colonels de sapeurs-pompiers professionnels". legifrance. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
  23. "Arrêté du 2 février 2017 pris en application de l'article 12 du décret n° 2016-2002 du 30 décembre 2016 portant statut particulier du cadre d'emplois de conception et de direction des sapeurs-pompiers professionnels". legifrance. Retrieved 2018-09-23.
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