the essential
The Lectoure barracks operates with four teams and each of them is on duty for one week per month. She has just organized an “open house”.
Laura Ongaretto, emergency nurse in Condom, and Séverine Lozano, nursing assistant, are female volunteer firefighters. For them, “devoting oneself to others” is therefore not a simple formula. Apart from daily availability, they are on call one week per month every night, from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. and from Friday evening to 7 a.m. Monday morning. With their colleagues, they carry out monthly maneuvers in order to test the equipment, their responsiveness and to maintain what they have learned.
“Being a firefighter complements our jobs,” declares Laura Ongaretto, “it’s having a second family.” Séverine Lozano adds: “The barracks are our second home”.
Laurent Condomine is the head of the Lectoure rescue center which includes 30 volunteer firefighters and a section of young people who obtain the national certificate and will complete 3 years of training every Saturday morning. They are between 14 and 17 years old. Three young women will join the squad this summer. The average age of the barracks is 33 years.
A chain of solidarity
The rescue center carried out 585 interventions in 2023. “Our main activity is helping people,” notes Laurent Condomine, “at home, on the public highway, at work. An “open house” day is fundamental to creating cohesion and encourage vocations.
Françoise Bernard, president of the Lectouroise Association for voluntary blood donation, was present: “It was obvious to be here today, it allows us to raise people’s awareness about blood donation. We are collecting promises of donation and contact details of volunteers. They will receive SMS messages for the next collections. A chain of solidarity was therefore present on the ground that day.
