Association – Amicale des sapeurs-pompiers du Pays de la Meije

79% of firefighters are volunteers, women and men, in the city or in the countryside, who have chosen to devote part of their time to serving their community. 85% of interventions concern emergency assistance to people (rescue to victims + traffic accidents).

The French emergency relief and population protection system
Our emergency relief system falls under the public civil security policy and concerns:

prevention of risks of all kinds,
informing and alerting populations,
the protection of people, property and the environment against accidents, disasters and catastrophes.
It arises from a shared competence between the State and local authorities.

Emergency rescue missions are mainly carried out by firefighters, grouped within departmental public establishments (the departmental fire and rescue services – SDIS), supplemented in around twenty departments by municipal and inter-municipal bodies, as well as military units (the Paris Fire Brigade and the Marseille Marine Fire Brigade). All these organizations are identified by a common term: the fire and rescue services.

Also acting alongside them are the national civil security resources grouped within the General Directorate of Civil Security and Crisis Management (DGSCGC) of the Ministry of the Interior: central administration, water bombing planes and helicopters, mine clearers, etc. as well as civil security military formations (FORMISC).

Finally, this system is reinforced if necessary by various State services, approved civil security associations, municipal civil security reserves and requisitioned private resources.

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