how Gironde firefighters protect heritage works in the event of fire

« There is smoke in the attic, all staff have been evacuated and the electricity has been cut off. » Isabelle Cazas-Audureau, the director of the Château de La Brède, welcomes a crew of firefighters from a pump van. The fire soldiers deploy a lance and attack the fortress. A few minutes later, another crew arrived aboard a utility vehicle. “We are the heritage preservation team. Which works should be protected or evacuated as a priority? »

This Tuesday, December 3 in the morning, is the tenth time since September that the scenario has happened again in the same place. Not that he's cursed. The Château de La Brède is the training ground for the Departmental Fire and Rescue Service of Gironde (Sdis 33) with a very specific mission: “The protection of works is a major issue for us, and following the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris, we accelerated our operational doctrine on the issue,” explains Commander Xavier Esteves, deputy head of the South-East group, one of the seven sectors which subdivide the department.

Stop the spread

The partnership with the La Brède site has lasted for several years, the result of a well-understood mutual interest. Upstream, it allowed the implementation of detection and ventilation measures. “On the recommendation of the Sdis, in 2025, we will carry out the 'recrossing of the attic'”, illustrates the director. The idea is to slow the spread of a possible fire by installing partitions in this single-piece volume housing wooden frames.

All that remains is to be ready if the worst happens, despite preventive measures. In her safeguarding plan, the head of the establishment therefore drew up a list of works to be protected “as a priority”. Heartbreaking given the richness of the site. “One of the particularities of the castle is that it was not pillaged during the Revolution and retained exceptional pieces of furniture. A collection that Montesquieu's descendants continued to enrich. »

Some can be moved: tables, dishes, chests, sculptures, paintings. Others are too large to be evacuated by human arms and must be protected in situ. Example: Montesquieu’s bed. “We 'put these objects under cover', by laying tarpaulins,” explains Commander Esteves. You have to realize that the only danger is not the flames: smoke and water also cause a lot of damage. »

Smoke and maze

In the attic, a machine spews smoke which saturates the space. Under the helmets, you can't see thirty centimeters. “For us, the exercise is very educational. Repetition allows us to minimize the stress factor by ensuring that gestures become automatic,” continues Xavier Esteves.

Upstairs and on the ground floor, the “heritage” team launched the rescue operation. Its van, pre-positioned in La Brède, is specially equipped with a “PO lot”, for “protection of works”: boxes, tarpaulins, tools. Moving equipment in a way. The castle has also provided equipment in rooms where it can be useful: stepladder, cutting pliers, etc.

“In the backup plan, each object has an individual sheet indicating its location and its method of care”

“In the safeguarding plan, each object has an individual sheet indicating its location and its method of care,” indicates Isabelle Cazas-Audureau. “Our discussions made it possible to transform this administrative document into an operational tool,” adds the commander. . . Here a table to tarpaulin, there a golden dish to exfiltrate. Outside, a team from the castle checks off the saved goods and places them in the adjoining farm.

The weight of history is what gives their value to the objects, but also its constraints on their rescue: the fortress is surrounded by water moats (from which the water for the lances is drawn), with a single access route which turns at a right angle in order to complicate access to attacks by soldiers – even if they fire.

The exercise has its pitfalls: getting lost in the smoke or simply in the castle maze, confusing one staircase or another, damaging a work by an inappropriate gesture in the heat of the action. And its objectives: to develop the right paths and optimal organization. “We realize that there are always things to improve. For example, during the next restorations, we will have to equip the tapestries with Velcro to make them easier to remove,” reflects the director.

150 professional firefighters from the southeast sector took part in this series of exercises. In Gironde, Sdis watches over 1,000 registered or classified buildings and more than 2,400 protected works.