The event, in costume and on horseback, paid off: the Gard firefighters obtained 50 additional positions. On Wednesday 14 September, between 250 and 350 of them marched through the streets of Nîmes to denounce the lack of means.
Gard firefighters got promises on Wednesday that their workforce would increase from 700 to 750 by 2028, 24 hours after hundreds of people took to the streets of Nîmes to request additional resources, we learned from union sources and departmental.
During a consultation meeting, the president of the departmental council, Françoise Laurent-Perrigot, said “abounded in the direction of increasing the workforce to 750 professional firefighters in five years, compared to 700 today“the departmental secretary of the SUD-Pompiers du Gard, Nicolas Nadal, told AFP.”It is a written commitment, which he will present to the (departmental) assembly in October.he said, while a previous agreement of 2021, which already provided for such an increase in the workforce, had not yet produced effects.
“In fact, we agree to consider, when we know exactly where there is a real lack of positions, to go towards an increase to 750 professional firefighters.“Within five years, Alexandre Pissas, president of the board of directors of the Gard departmental fire and rescue service (SDIS), confirmed to AFP, who was present at the meeting with the trade unions.
In a letter sent Wednesday to Mr. Pissas, whom the AFP was able to consult, the president of the department, Françoise Laurent-Perrigot, he “confirms that the agreement between the Department Council and Sdis for the three-year period 2023-2028 provides for the commitment to make the necessary recruitments to reach the target of 750 professional firefighters in the Gard “.
The dialogue will also continue between the union and the department on the issue of equipment, considered insufficient or dilapidated by the firefighters, and with the state on the number of hydro bombers, Nadal also explained.
On Tuesday, between 350 people, according to the organizers, and 250, according to the police, marched through the center of Nîmes to the appeal of Sud-Pompiers du Gard, to ask for additional means in the face of multiplying forest fires and floods.
–
