This Tuesday, November 12, 2024, Colonel Dominique Turc, retired firefighters, and Commander Marc Toulouse, head of the Mende fire and rescue center, spoke during the municipal council to recount the highlights of this sad famous year 1994.
1994 was a nightmare year for Mende. From February to November, the city experienced a series of unprecedented disasters.
On the night of Thursday February 17 to Friday February 18, at 12:35 a.m., 12:37 a.m. and 12:40 a.m., a triple dynamite attack targeted the high court, the building which houses the tax services department and the center departmental assessment, as well as academic inspection. On Wednesday July 13, the roof of the school complex went up in smoke. On Saturday September 24 and Friday November 4, two historic floods of the Lot flooded many neighborhoods.
FLNC claim
Twenty years later, this Tuesday, November 12, 2024, Colonel Dominique Turc, retired firefighters, and Commander Marc Toulouse, head of the Mende fire and rescue center, spoke during the municipal council in order to revive the memory of the elected officials. “The attacks were claimed by the Corsican National Liberation Front (FLNC), they first recalled. Firefighters were dispersed to three locations. In addition to the property, we had to secure the court janitor and the academy inspector.”
The damage was particularly significant. According to the Free Midday of February 19, the work to restore everything was estimated at 3 million francs, or €738,989 in 2023 (Insee) taking into account monetary erosion due to inflation.
Midi Libre – Archive
Midi Libre – Archive
Midi Libre – Archive
Midi Libre – Archive
Midi Libre – Archive
One hundred firefighters in the school group
For the school group, the entire roof, up to the playground, went up in smoke. “The roof was placed on a slab, remembers Commander Toulouse. This prevented the fire from spreading to the buildings.” In total, around a hundred firefighters from all the department’s emergency centers intervened. “The humidity was very low and the temperature was scorching,” specifies Colonel Turc. Two months later, for the start of the school year, everything was repaired.
“Difficult rescues”
The two floods of similar intensity were the strongest since that of 1890. At the Notre-Dame bridge, the water reached 3.85 m. “We had some really difficult rescues, continues Colonel Turk. Sometimes the power of the boats’ engines was barely enough to go upstream.”
The testimony of the two firefighters helps maintain the culture of risk, as recalled by Laurent Suau, seventh deputy mayor in charge of Health, Development and Flood Control.
A new municipal protection plan
Midi Libre – Archive
The City of Mende called on the Cyprès association (Information Center for the Prevention of Major Risks), based in Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône), to develop a new Municipal Safeguarding Plan (PCS), method of use to be applied in the event of a major natural or technological event. During the municipal council meeting on Tuesday, November 12, Nicolas Cathala, responsible for major risks and raising awareness among young people, revealed the main points.
The previous PCS, which had been approved by municipal decree of December 16, 2021, was no longer suitable. “It was too complete and dense, estimates the specialist. We went from 220 pages to around a hundred. The goal is not to waste fifteen minutes finding information.”
Industrial risk removed
Cyprès therefore reviewed all the risks present in Mende, whether in the city center, in the residential neighborhoods, in the business and commercial areas, or even in the hamlets. The prefectural city is therefore exposed to floods, forest fires, landslides, earthquakes in a very small proportion, climatic events and the transport of dangerous materials.
“There is no high-threshold Seveso establishment in the municipality, so the industrial risk was not taken into account, slips Nicolas Cathala. For the transport of dangerous materials, this concerns trucks that cross the city with gasoline or harmful products, or even simply with domestic fuel oil.”
A minimum exercise every five years
The PCS therefore defines the organization of emergency management within the municipality. “It specifies the role of the mayor, his deputies, community services to inform, alert and keep the population safe, continues the specialist. In the event of evacuation, as during the floods of 1994, the PCS indicates where residents should be transported and plans their supplies.”
Like the previous one, the new Municipal Protection Plan will have to be the subject of a municipal decree to come into force. For it to be effective, elected officials and the various services concerned will have to take charge of it and train regularly. The law of November 25, 2021, known as the Matras law, imposes a minimum exercise every five years.
