According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on July 29th local time, during the most severe wildfires in decades, France's old firefighting aircraft fleet has been frequently grounded due to maintenance issues. As a result, French President Macron has been criticized for not being prepared enough to deal with wildfires.
Recently, several areas in France and Spain have experienced wildfires. The fire situation is particularly severe in the region around Bordeaux in southwestern France, with an area affected reaching 42,000 hectares. Approximately 220,000 people have been evacuated. This is the worst wildfire outbreak in this region since 1949.
On July 25th local time, Gregory Prats, a firefighter who participated in the fire suppression operation, said that only five Canadian-made CL-415 firefighting aircraft were available for use in the operation. "That was simply unacceptable; we were facing an extremely intense fire situation."
Opposition lawmakers accused Macron of delaying the update of 12 Canadian CL-415 fire-fighting aircraft. These aircraft are old, with an average service life of between 19 and 32 years, and they are the core of France’s air fire-fighting forces.
In 2022, after severe wildfires in the southwestern part of France, Emmanuel Macron promised to completely update the country's firefighting aircraft fleet. He also planned to purchase four more aircraft by 2027, aiming to have 16 new aircraft by the end of his presidency. However, four years have passed, and the government has only placed orders for four aircraft. The first two aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2028, while the other two will take another four to five years to arrive.
The delay in delivery was partly due to capacity constraints at the manufacturer, De Havilland Canada. However, French policies also exacerbated the crisis: in order to reduce the growing fiscal deficit and save money, the government cut the budget for the purchase of two aircraft in 2024. France re-ordered the purchase of two aircraft in June this year, but the order was delayed.
Left-wing member Damian Mo De Te said: "We wasted a lot of time for nothing." He participated in drafting the parliamentary report last year, urging the government to update these Canadian firefighting aircraft as soon as possible.
The French government has requested assistance from the European Union. The EU has dispatched seven aircraft and four helicopters from countries such as Sweden, Portugal, and Germany, and hopes to receive more assistance in the coming days. However, France is not the only country competing for these limited air resources.
Macron said on the 27th, "We have already mobilized all resources." He added, "Now, we need to unite and take action."
