French firefighters in support of Spain, two weeks after the floods

France sent 40 rescuers and around ten firefighters to Spain to help the populations hit by the floods which left more than 200 dead.

Help welcome. Two weeks after the first floods which left more than 200 dead in Spain, the first French firefighters arrived on site to help the population and local emergency services clear the still very present mud, particularly in the Valencia region.

The Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau announced Monday on civil protection”.

In Picanya, a town in the province of Valencia, French and Spanish firefighters are now working together to evacuate the muddy water which has invaded an exhibition hall covering more than 1,000 m².

“They fill the buckets, the first chain brings the buckets to the bottom of the stairs and places them at the end of the footbridge,” Victor Martinez, head of the French international emergency fire department, explains to BFMTV.

Long-term work

For three days, Patrick and Jérôme, two French firefighters sent to the site, have been trying to clear this gallery. But the task seems endless.

“We have the impression of having done nothing because there is so much to go out,” confides Patrick, disappointed.

Due to poor sanitary conditions, firefighters wear masks during their interventions and take regular breaks in the open air. “As it is mud, there is necessarily gas that is discharged,” explains Patrick. “We don’t know what it is so we need to ventilate from time to time.”

While dirt regularly seeps under their protective suits, firefighters make do as best they can with wipes. “There is no other way to disinfect yourself,” says Raquel, a Spanish volunteer.

“Great people”

By working together in difficult conditions, bonds are formed between French and Spanish firefighters, united in this tragedy.

“We don’t know each other and three seconds later, we hug each other because we worked like crazy,” assures Patrick.

“Finally, there are many of us, but we are missing arms, so that (the French firefighters) come from so far, I feel very lucky to work with these wonderful people,” greets Raquel, volunteer firefighter.

Although sometimes the language barrier can make working together more complex, the volunteers always manage to manage to understand each other. “Like the Italians, with their hands, it’s the universal language,” laughs the French firefighter.

The region recognizes “errors”

An additional team of 10 firefighters is expected this Saturday in Valencia and the surrounding area. Willy Guérin, member of the NGO Firefighters of International Emergency, head of mission for Valence, was departing this Saturday morning from Limoges. He was to join, with several other firefighters, the municipalities of Picanya and Moncada.

“We will put ourselves at their disposal to help them as best we can,” he assured BFMTV.

“Having reconnected with our first head of mission, things are going very well, whether with the firefighters, the military and the residents, everyone is working together to try to get the residents back to a little more normal life, even if we know that there remains a lot of work,” he also explained.

On Friday, the president of the Valencia region Carlos Mazón, member of the Popular Party (PP, conservative right), recognized for the first time “errors” in the management of the floods. “I want to apologize” to the people who had “the feeling that the aid was not arriving or was not sufficient”, he declared, while the provisional toll on Friday was 224 dead, including 216 in the Valencia region alone.