François de Canson: "In the South, we know that the fire will return"

He was alongside François de Canson, vice-president of the Région, in charge of attractiveness, tourism, and major risk prevention, and numerous partners: the ONF, the Entente Valabre, the Ecole nationale supérieure des officiers de sapeurs-pompiers, the SDIS, the Garde régionale forestière, the Comités communaux Feux de Forêts, as well as the company Hynaero. In 7 years, the number of hectares burned was divided by five thanks to nearly €40 million invested, an increased presence on the ground with 250 forest guards and 9,000 volunteers, and new tools such as the Hyères pélicandrome or the Fonds RESPIR for reconstruction.

AWARENESS

There are wounds that scar a territory forever. The summer of 2017 was one. Those raging flames in our hills, those nights of anguish when the sky catches fire and we believe we are losing what we hold most dear: our homes, our forests, our lives. This is not just a memory of ash and smoke: it is a shock that awakened a conscience. It is from this ordeal that a new will was born. That of a Région president who chose to answer the call of his municipalities, to join forces with mayors, departments, firefighters, and volunteers, to make this fight a collective commitment. This is how the Guerre du Feu was born. Not a formula, but a policy. Not a reaction, but a vision. I speak as a mayor, as an intercommunality president, as a man of the Var, this department which is both the most wooded and the most touristic in France. I speak as an elected representative of the Massif des Maures, economic development, this country of tortoises and charterhouses, of chestnuts and traditions, but also of flames that too often rise again. And that is why I realize how much our forests are more than just trees: they are our identity, our living landscape, our shared memory.

NATIONAL REFERENCE

This fight is not a reaction, it is a permanent commitment. This regional plan, conceived in the aftermath of the 2017 fires, was taken up as a basis for national reflection after the Landes fires. The Guerre du Feu, born in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, is a reference for the entire country. 9 out of 10 fires are of human origin. Against this, we must prevent. To prevent is to educate, raise awareness, and train. It is to salute our CCFF volunteers, discreet and tireless guardians, often elders, who pass on their knowledge just as one passes on a memory. It is to thank our young guards, who patrol 22 sensitive territories: their courage is proof that the future is here, committed, standing tall. It is to support our schools, ENSOSP and Entente, to honor them, and to recall that their presence is a great wealth of expertise. In October, the Région will vote €90,000 for an artificial intelligence laboratory dedicated to civil security, thereby putting technology at the service of protection. Preventing also means supporting mayors. Indeed, the law imposes legal brush-clearing obligations on them. 80 municipalities are already supported by the Région, which finances indispensable work on DFCI tracks. 1,046 projects have been financed for €11.7 million from Région funds, supplemented by €7.1 million from FEADER. Because the Guerre du Feu does not stop at regional borders. It is also a European fight. Face to climate change, no region, no State can act alone. For 10 years, Renaud Muselier has been lobbying hard at the European level for a RescUE policy that meets the challenge, for the status of volunteers, to relaunch the Canadairs chain, complementarity of means, etc. Since then, the Côte d’Azur has been a European laboratory for the fight against fires.

PROTECT

THE HERITAGE

As president of the Comité Régional de Tourisme, François de Canson recalled the regional policy: "We preferred a policy of intelligence and complementarity. To listen, support, and arbitrate. To create Parcs naturels régionaux that protect by bringing to life, that anticipate instead of forbidding. This is the case with the 10th Parc Maures Esterel Tanneron project. This is the philosophy we carry: to reconcile, not to oppose. Because the Guerre du Feu is about protecting our region's primary economic heritage: our landscapes. When they burn, it is our identity that suffers, and it is our economy that falters a little. Preventing and fighting is therefore also about defending our attractiveness, our image, our vitality. It is about making sure that the Méditerranée remains what it is: a land where people come for its beauty, and return for its strength. We are children of the Méditerranée." "This is what the Guerre du Feu is: volunteers who watch by night and young people who patrol production of the day, local elected representatives who maintain the for the tracks and a Europe committed to civil protection, simulators, schools, and regional pélicandromes, Provence-Alpes reforestation funds, and educational highway rest areas. It is a policy that embraces everything, leaves nothing to chance, and refuses oblivion. Because in the South, we know that the fire will return. But we have decided that it will not find an undefended territory. The Guerre du Feu is our way of saying to our residents, our children, our landscapes: We will always be here," concluded François de Canson.