Saint-Martin is currently undergoing a period of drought which favors the outbreak of fire. If in normal times, the firefighters only have to put out four to five fires per month, they have already carried out around twenty interventions during the month of April following brush fires.
Fighting fire is only a small proportion of the 3000 or so interventions by firefighters in Saint-Martin. "80% of our interventions relate to personal rescue" indicates Lieutenant Maes, head of the Saint-Martin rescue center since 2012. The center operates according to a management agreement between the COM and the SDIS of Guadeloupe. The firefighters are therefore recruited by the SDIS of Guadeloupe and seconded to Saint-Martin, but it is the community which finances their salaries and the running costs of the center. The barracks, located in La Savane, has twenty-nine professional firefighters (twenty-one incumbents and recently eight fixed-term contracts). As well as thirty volunteer firefighters. For the size of the island, and despite the absence of another rescue center on the territory, the lieutenant and colonel Gumbs agreed to have sufficient material resources. What is lacking at the rescue center are mainly human resources. Currently, the center operates with four teams of six or seven professionals who perform shifts every 24 hours. “To be comfortable, we should have ten people per team. And ideally, it would take fifteen, ”says Colonel Gumbs, aware that the COM has already made great efforts. The community organized a competition in 2018 to recruit twelve people. They have all passed the exam and must complete their training in Guadeloupe. Five left to follow it this year in January and will return in November to join the barracks. Normally the others should leave in training in 2020 to return in 2021. This will not be enough but should still relieve the team.
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