The breakdown of emergency numbers is a sign that our alert system must be reformed, according to firefighters

For firefighters, the blackout that seriously disrupted emergency numbers on Wednesday evening shows the need to renovate “Our alert system” and create a unique number for emergency calls, 112.

In a press release published on Thursday, June 3, the National Federation of Firefighters of France (FNSPF) calls for a “Major renovation” of this warning system – renovation that “Ask the firefighters of France for a long time, expressed by the President of the Republic in 2017, and which could finally see the light of day if Parliament understands that it is now necessary to avoid putting the urgent as well as the non-urgent in the same pipe “, insists the FNSPF.

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This breakdown “Once again shows the need for modernization in both infrastructural and organizational terms, taking into account new uses and IT tools: applications for smartphones, social networks, but also connected objects and e-mails must be taken into account to communicate the ‘alert’, she adds.

“With more than 18 million calls received by firefighters in France each year, and an intervention every 6.5 seconds, this failure has tested the French warning system”, deplores the federation.

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Three modalities tested

The failure of the operator Orange, which seriously disrupted emergency numbers on Wednesday evening, comes a week after the adoption by the National Assembly on first reading of a bill which aims in particular to establish a single number for emergency calls, 112, on the model of the American “911”.

Three modalities will be tested: a merger of “All services” (number 15, 17 and 18), a gathering without ” police help “ (15 and 18), or a single “Grouping” SAMU and doctors on call in conjunction with other emergency services (15 and permanence of care).

This consensual text, which intends to consolidate the French civil security model largely based on volunteer firefighters (80% of the 250,000 firefighters), is now expected in the Senate.

The failure of an equipment responsible for routing calls massively hampered access to emergency numbers (15/17/18/112) and to landlines Wednesday afternoon until midnight, providing many emergency services. help difficult to reach by the public across France.

It could have caused the death of at least three people, reported the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, who spoke of “Serious and unacceptable malfunctions”. The CEO of Orange, Stéphane Richard, summoned to Beauvau, presented on Twitter “His warmest apologies”.

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The World with AFP