What's the cost involved?
In the sun-drenched south of France, a woman in Marseille is awaiting an appointment with her insurance expert to assess the damages caused by a devastating fire that left her with nothing. Meanwhile, the nation's firefighting efforts are intensifying as wildfires continue to progress in multiple departments, including Aude, Hérault, and Bouches-du-Rhône.
The ongoing battle against these blazes is taking a financial toll. Resources are being deployed both on the ground and in the air, with approximately 270 vehicles and their crews involved in the interventions. The maintenance cost for the Canadair water-bombing aircraft, a crucial part of the firefighting arsenal, has increased from 30 million euros to 34 million euros this year. Each hour of flight for a Canadair costs 16,000 euros, making the cost of these interventions significant.
The recent parliamentary report reveals that insurers have paid out a total of 106 million euros in compensation due to forest fires since 2020. This figure is expected to rise as the fires continue to rage. In fact, the cost for the ongoing interventions in Narbonne alone is nearly a million euros per day.
The increased maintenance cost of the Canadairs is attributed to their aging. Despite this, the civil security continues to rent aircraft for firefighting efforts due to a limited stock of water bombers. Mickaël Biberon, spokesperson for the UNSA firefighters, explained the higher maintenance cost.
The fleet of water-bombing aircraft of the civil security was mentioned in a Senate report in July 2023. However, there is no publicly available, aggregated figure specifying how much France has spent on maintaining and renting these aircraft for wildfire management since 2020, including costs for 2023 and 2025. For a precise answer, data would need to be sourced from French government or civil protection agency reports, or from specialized forestry and emergency management publications.
One such source, the SDIS of the Aude, has reported that firefighters in Narbonne have been fighting the fires for three consecutive days. The woman in Marseille, whose home was destroyed by fire, declares she will wait to be fully indemnified before renting an apartment.
The costs of these fires are not just financial. Insurers paid out 4.5 billion euros in compensation after the massive Gascony fires in 2022. As the summer progresses, the hope is that the efforts of the firefighters will prevent further devastation and loss.
- The financial burden of fighting wildfires in France is considerable, particularly for the maintenance of Canadair water-bombing aircraft, which has increased from 30 million to 34 million euros this year.
- In the realm of environmental science, climate change is suspected to exacerbate the frequency and intensity of wildfires in France, potentially leading to higher costs for damages and intervention.
- As the woman in Marseille patiently awaits her insurance indemnity, she also ponders the environmental cost of these fires, questioning if funds allocated to finance firefighting interventions could instead be channeled towards sustainable industries that prioritize the health of the environment.
