The Force Ouvrière firefighters union in Haute-Vienne filed a complaint on Wednesday against X with the Limoges prosecutor’s office for “endangering the lives of others” in order to denounce a lack of staff.
In a press release, FO denounces the fact that only 32 firefighters were on duty during the day of December 25 for the three rescue centers of Limoges and its agglomeration, against the 37 required “by the operational regulations of the SDIS”. “There is a real endangerment of the population and the firefighters”, denounced to AFP the secretary general Nicolas Corneloup, angry at a situation which has lasted “for several months”.
Increase in interventions “by 20% over the last few months”
“Regularly, there are one or two days when we are understaffed”, he explains, while the interventions have increased by “20% over the last months”. The union claims to have repeatedly challenged elected officials and the prefecture but “each time we are told that there is no financial means to hire”. The departmental council of Haute-Vienne meanwhile announced on December 15 a 2% increase in the budget devoted to the SDIS, or 400,000 euros.
FO is now waiting to know what such a complaint, rare in this environment, can bring. Among caregivers, the CGT Health and Social Action of Meurthe-et-Moselle filed a similar complaint in October with the Nancy prosecutor’s office in order to denounce a “totally deadly situation” in health establishments “for users and employees” .
Unions from the Laval and Bayonne hospital centers also filed reports with their respective prosecutors at the end of the summer to warn of the endangerment of nursing staff.