Question 9156 — security of property and people

Summary

Mrs. Claire Lejeune draws the attention of the Minister of State, Minister of the Interior, to the worrying state of the French fleet of Canadairs, devices essential to fighting fires. As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of forest fires across the entire territory, including in historically less exposed areas in the north, the operational capacity of civil security air assets appears more and more insufficient. Since the start of summer 2025, at least five departments - Bouches-du-Rhône, Aude, Gard, Hérault and Ille-et-Vilaine - have already been affected by fires, confirming fears of a high-risk summer. Faced with these disasters, the Canadairs play an essential role: capable of releasing 6,000 liters of water and carrying out rapid rotations by obtaining supplies directly from the sea or lake, they are particularly effective on large fires. However, the current fleet of twelve Canadairs is particularly dilapidated: with an average age of 30 years, these devices are subject to accelerated wear due to their increasing stress and repeated scooping maneuvers at sea, where salt water accentuates corrosion phenomena. The information report from Mr. Damien Maudet and Ms. Sophie Pantel on the fleet renewal strategy air civil security warns of the worrying aging of aircraft as well as the increasing difficulties linked to their maintenance. He recommends, in his proposal No. 4, to quickly clarify the government strategy, both on the number of devices ordered and on the schedule for their delivery. These alerts echo the summer of 2024, during which no Canadair was able to fly for several days, due to a lack of availability and spare parts. In 2022, the President of the Republic had nevertheless committed to replacing all of the twelve existing Canadairs and increasing their number to sixteen by the end of the five-year term. However, only two aircraft, which are part of the RescUE European strategic reserve, have been ordered to date. The MP therefore questions the Government on the exact number of Canadairs currently in flight condition, on the precise timetable for their replacement and on future order intentions. In a context of climate change leading to an increase in forest fires and while France has a particularly extensive forest heritage on a European scale, she asks what the current and future orientations of the Government are in terms of European cooperation, particularly within the framework of RescUE, in order to strengthen operational firefighting capacities on the national territory, which are currently insufficient in the face of the challenges. She finally asks him how he intends to secure the maintenance, maintenance in operational condition and supply of spare parts for this strategic fleet for territorial security.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

Timeline

No timeline events have been ingested for this record yet.

Votes

No vote records are attached yet.

Versions

No version snapshots stored. Document URLs remain at the source.

Documents

No documents linked.

Sponsors

No sponsors or actors listed by the source.

Related records

No cross-record relationships stored yet.