Fire services in France
The fire service in France is known as Sapeurs-pompiers, except in Marseille, where naval "sailor-firefighters", marins-pompiers, provide fire and rescue services.
There are two categories:
- 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).
There are approximately 250,584 fire service personnel in France operating 15,000 emergency vehicles out of 10,238 emergency centres.
Pompier (firefighter) etymologically comes from the concept of pumping (water) and refers to the manual pumps that were originally used. Sapeur means "sapper" and refers to the first official firefighting unit created by Napoleon I which was part of the military engineering arm.
Categories
As of 1 January 2012, there were 248 300 sapeurs-pompiers in France:[1]
- 15% professionals (paid)
- 80% sapeurs-pompiers volontaires (volunteers and hourly paid)
- 5% militaires (military)
Women comprised 12% of the civil sapeurs-pompiers.
The service de santé and of effectives.
The administrative personnel, technicians and specialists numbered 10,900.
The jeunes sapeurs-pompiers (Junior fighters) and cadets numbered 27,800.
There are also few (328) civil volunteer firefighters (sapeurs-pompiers volontaires civils). The civil volunteers status was created in 2000 when the conscription was abolished. It is a national service, i.e. full-time job for 6 months to 2 years, but with a reduced pay.
Organization
Headquarters are located in:
Sous-direction des Sapeur-Pompiers
87-95 quai du docteur Dervanx
92600 Asnieres-Sur-Seine
Local organization is based in the various Departmental Fire and Rescue Services (Services Departmentaux d'Incendie et de Secours (SDIS)).
Personnel and rank insignia
Category | Status | Number of fire fighters and paramedics |
---|---|---|
Civilian fire services | professionals | 40,354 |
Civilian fire services | volunteers | 168,727 |
Volunteer fire brigades [lower-alpha 1] | volunteers | 13,631 |
Fire Services EMS | professionals volunteers | 11,910 |
Military fire services [lower-alpha 2] | military | 11,752 |
Military fire services EMS | military | 173 |
Source:[2] |
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.[3] 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, and passed middle school; employment as Sapper 2nd class without, and as Sapper 1st class with, a civil service exam.[4] Promotion to Corporal can occur after three years as Sapper 1st class; to Chief Corporal after six years as Corporal.[5] Crew commanders are selected through a civil service exam open to team leaders.[6] Promotion to Adjutant can occur after six years as Sergeant/Chief Sergeant.[5]
Grade | Insignia | Basic role |
---|---|---|
Sapeur de 2e classe | Team Member | |
Sapeur de 1re classe | Team Member | |
Caporal | 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.[9] 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.[5] 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.[10][11][12]
Grade | Insignia | Basic roles |
---|---|---|
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.[13] Commandants are selected from captains with five years in the grade; lieutenant-colonels from commandants with five years in the grade; colonels are selected from lieutenant-colonels, deputy brigade managers with three years in the grade, and from other lieutenant-colonels with five years in the grade.[5] Direct entry captains are undergoing a 42-week course, and internal entry captains a 10-week course, at the National Fire College.[14][15]
Grade | 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 | Brigade Manager Deputy Brigade Manager Incident Commander Gold Area Manager Station Manager Hundred or more professional fire fighters | |
Colonel | Brigade Manager Deputy Brigade Manager Incident Commander Gold Area Manager |
Responses
- Fires 394,000
- Car accidents 331,876
- Medical emergencies 2,212,154
- Other 788,756
Paris and Marseille comprise 14% of the national total.
See also
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Firefighting in France. |
References
- ↑ http://www.interieur.gouv.fr/Publications/Statistiques/Securite-civile/2011
- ↑ Les statistiques des services d’incendie et de secours 2016 Retrieved 2017-02-16.
- ↑ "Missions de l'ENSOP." Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Officiers de Sapeurs-Pompiers. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
- ↑ "Sapeurs-pompiers professionnels." Sapuers-pompiers de France. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
- 1 2 3 4 "Brochure réforme de la filière SP." Le SDIS de Maine-et-Loire. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
- ↑ "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." Legifrance. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
- 1 2 3 Décret n° 2012-525 du 20 avril 2012 modifiant le décret n° 95-1018 du 14 septembre 1995 fixant la répartition des fonctionnaires territoriaux en groupes hiérarchiques en application de l'article 90 de la loi du 26 janvier 1984 portant dispositions statutaires relatives à la fonction publique territoriale 2017-02-14
- 1 2 3 Décret n° 2012-519 du 20 avril 2012 modifiant le décret n° 90-850 du 25 septembre 1990 portant dispositions communes à l'ensemble des sapeurs-pompiers professionnels 2017-02-14
- ↑ "Décret n° 2012-522 du 20 avril 2012 portant statut particulier du cadre d'emplois des lieutenants de sapeurs-pompiers professionnels." Legifrance. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
- ↑ Formations d’intégration de lieutenants de 1° classe (FILT 1C). Retrieved 2017-03-29.
- ↑ Formations d’intégration de lieutenants de 2° classe (FILT 2C) Retrieved 2017-03-29.
- ↑ Formations d’adaptation de lieutenants de 1° classe (FALT 1C) Retrieved 2017-03-29.
- ↑ "Décret n°2001-682 du 30 juillet 2001 portant statut particulier du cadre d'emplois des capitaines, commandants, lieutenants-colonels et colonels de sapeurs-pompiers professionnels." Legifrance. Retrieved 2017-02-14.
- ↑ Formations d’intégration de capitaine de SPP (FIC) Retrieved 2017-03-28.
- ↑ Formations d’adaptation de capitaine de SPP (FAC) Retrieved 2017-03-28.
External links
- (in French) Official website (French Ministry of the Interior)
- (in French) National federation of French firefighters