Fighting forest fires – Forest fires – Natural risks – Preventing risk and protecting yourself – State actions

Haute-Savoie is identified as sensitivity level 1 (out of 3 levels) by the national mapping of areas potentially sensitive to forest fires by 2040 (IFN / ONF / Météo-France mapping – May 2010). This risk nevertheless exists throughout the department.

In order to protect forests and vegetation from fire risks and to respect public health and air quality preservation objectives, Yves Le Breton, prefect of Haute-Savoie, has issued two decrees:

In Haute-Savoie, the release of lanterns is permanently prohibited from 06/15 to 09/30 and from 03/01 to 04/30.

Consult the Lantern releases section

Prevention

Collective measures

Prevention consists in particular of:

• inform by all existing means about good behavior to avoid the outbreak of fires
• regulate if necessary the use of fire, bivouac or even the penetration of people into sensitive sectors during critical periods.
• enforce article L.131-1 of the forest code for the department’s wooded areas: ”It is forbidden for any person other than the owner of land, whether wooded or not, or other than the occupants of this land under the authority of their owner, to carry or light fire on this land and up to a distance 200 meters from woods and forests as well as similar land subject to the provisions of article L.131-4”.
• examine the conditions of access and protection against fire of combustible spaces within the departmental sub-committee for safety against the risks of fire in forests, moors, maquis and scrubland.
• develop and update the departmental forest protection plan against fires.

Consideration in planning

The town planning code (article L.121-1) requires that risks be taken into account in town planning documents.

The creation of buffer zones between wooded areas (or covered with heath) and homes and the regular maintenance of these wooded or heath areas must then be taken into account.

PLUs make it possible to refuse or accept under certain conditions a building permit in areas that may be subject to forest fires.

Organization of relief

The SDIS receives and processes calls ending on 18 and 112. Its alert processing center triggers the response resources of the department’s 87 fire and rescue centers (CIS) (2019 figures).

The SDIS

Departmental fire and rescue service has more than a hundred machines for fighting forest fires, some of which are specialized, spread across the department’s various emergency centers:

• 25 medium forest fire tanker trucks (CCFM)
• 10 fire tankers (CCI)
• 20 rural tank trucks (CCR)
• 46 all-purpose off-road vehicles (VTUHR)

At the municipal level, the mayor can trigger his municipal protection plan (PCS) to manage the consequences of the crisis in his municipality, if necessary with the support of the municipal or intermunicipal civil security reserve.