French firefighters, aka pompiers, are nationally recognized civil servants tasked with medical and firefighting operations in France. They need specialized vehicles which vary in function and size to achieve that mission. A while back I did an article on prehospital care and ambulances in France. Today, we’re going to take that a bit further and focus on a few of the most common French Firefighting vehicles.
VSAV
Le VSAV or Véhicule de Secours et d’Assistance aux Victimes (Victim rescue and assistance vehicle) is one of the common French firefighting vehicles you’ll see. This is because over 80% of a French firefighter’s duties involves responding to medical emergencies or car accidents.
There are two notable versions of the VSAV. The VSAV tôlé is the standard van-based ambulance. While the VSAV cube is a box ambulance similar to U.S. ambulances with additional cabin room.
All of the ambulances have at least one lateral door in addition to the large rear-exit doors.
There are three or four French firefighters assigned to every ambulance. The ambulances are capable of carrying up to six people: three in front, two in the rear and a patient on the stretcher. The high capacity means a SAMU / SMUR physician can be transported along with the patient if needed.
The VSAV has ample storage space to carry a first aid bag, respiratory and ventilation equipment, bandages / dressings / drapes, a cardiac defibrillator, portable oxygen, blood pressure equipment, a pulse oximeter, a glucometer, and road-side gear for the team.
VSR & FSR
Le VSR or Véhicule de Secours Routier (Road emergency vehicle) intervenes in car accidents. Using the VSR, pompiers secure and illuminate the scene, manage the damaged vehicles and extricate any trapped drivers.
On every VSR you’ll find traffic cones, lighted signage or LED projectors, car jacks and wedges. Firefighters will also have access to equipment specifically designed to extricate victims from a dangerous scene.
The VSR comes with fire extinguishers to prevent an eventual fire. Some departments may specialize VSRs to handle incidents within tunnels or on railways.
Caption (above): Equipment on a VSR (Source Wikimedia)
While the VSR can handle preventing a fire, certain fire trucks are equip to handle both large flames and vehicular rescue at the same time. These French firefighting vehicles are denoted as the fourgon pompe-tonne / secours routier (FPTSR), fourgon grand puissance secours routier (FGPSR), and fourgon de secours routier (FSR). We talk about the FPT in the next section.
The VSR is oftentimes staffed by three firefighters while the larger fire trucks (FSR / FPTSR) can accommodate up to six.
