An unprecedented heat wave, overwhelmed hospital services, deaths which quickly number in the tens, even hundreds, in hospitals and accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people (Ehpad), a Minister of Health, Jean-François Mattei, who delays from his holiday resort and a government that is slow to act: twenty years ago, from August 2 to 17, 2003, France experienced its most intense and long heat wave, during the hottest summer known since 1950. The deadliest too, since it resulted in the death of 15,000 people in two weeks.
A posteriori, the terrible human toll has highlighted the lack of knowledge on the part of the public authorities of the risks of mortality linked to exposure to heat and the political misconception that episodes of high heat have represented up to now. The lack of preparation and the lack of anticipation were noted a few months later, in the winter of 2004, in the report of the National Assembly’s commission of inquiry devoted to the management of the heat wave.
Etched in the collective memory, this event created a political precedent, which led to the presentation of the first national heat wave plan by the successor to Mr. Mattei at the Ministry of Health, Phillippe Douste-Blazy, in May 2004. The world takes stock, twenty years later, of the changes caused by this heat wave.
Since 2004, a dual weather and health warning system
Triggered every summer since 2004, the alert system is based on two pillars, prevention of the health risks of heat waves with the general public and those at risk, as well as the implementation of a monitoring system to anticipate heat episodes and act quickly when they occur.
If before 2003 a Météo-France alert system existed in the event of extreme cold, none was planned for extreme heat. Heatwave vigilance was introduced in 2004 at the level of each department for 24-hour forecasts, using a four-colour identification system: green (usual temperatures for the season), yellow ( heat episodes and heat peaks), orange (heat wave), red (extreme heat wave).
This device was coupled with a “heat wave and health” alert system (SACS), piloted by the French public health agency (SPF, formerly the Health Watch Institute, which was criticized for its lack of responsiveness after the 2003 heat wave). It makes it possible to monitor morbidity indicators – including the use of emergency care – and mortality, in order to warn the public authorities “so that[ils adaptent] if necessary, preventive and management measures”underlines the agency in a document released in June 2023.
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