Young firefighters on internship closer to reality

Les jeunes sapeurs-pompiers en action. Midi Libre – F. A.

Un exercice grandeur nature organisé dans une avenue d'Alès.

After the impact, the car crashed into a tree on avenue des Frères-Lumière in Alès. Inside the vehicle a man is injured.

The alert is given, and soon the firefighters go into action under the watchful eye of Chief Sergeant Thomas Eschalier. This is an exercise, but the scene was modeled on a real traffic accident.

"We have young people on internship and they need to become accustomed to this type of mission which, unfortunately, is not rare in the department. We try to immerse them as close as possible to reality,” explains the non-commissioned officer in charge of education.

New recruits in training train to take care of the injured and extricate them. All have between two and six months of service, and have the goal of becoming a volunteer firefighter.

They multiply the exercises in the Alès area for five days. "Most of the 13 trainees, that is to say 80% of them, come from our “young firefighter” sector. They come from the centers of Alès, Uzès, Vauvert and Nîmes Saint-Césaire. It’s a sector that works well."