Avoiding "seasonal outrage": what will remain of firefighters' anger in the French presidential campaign?

At the very start of the election season and after a hellish summer, French firefighters are launching a mobilisation lasting several weeks. While awaiting answers from the government, the challenge is also to make it a campaign issue This summary may have been written with the assistance of generative AI. Learn more A mobilisation that will be visible on red fire engines. French firefighters began a six-week strike on Tuesday, demanding more personnel and equipment from the government after a hellish summer. Last August, citing staff shortages and ageing equipment, the spokesperson for the firefighters' inter-union body, Xavier Boy, stated that firefighters "cannot indefinitely compensate for the failings of a system that has reached saturation point". And most political parties endorsed that assessment. While French firefighters will not actually stop working, slogans will be displayed on their equipment and vehicles. Eight professional firefighters' unions have called for a national mobilisation until 20 October, when the budget marathon is due to begin in parliament. The inter-union body has also announced a major rally in Paris on 29 September. Union representatives were received at 11 a.m. at the Interior Ministry on Tuesday, where they were presented with the opening chapters of a bill to modernise civil protection. Calling on the government to heed their anger, the firefighters said they were "disappointed", Xavier Boy reported on Tuesday after the meeting. "We think it won't be up to the mark — it won't change much about the situation," Christophe Sansou, general secretary of the FO SIS union, told Le Temps.