Firefighters Launch Six-Week National Strike Demanding 21,000 New Recruits After Brutal Wildfire Summer

Nine representative unions of France's departmental fire and rescue services (SDIS) launched a national strike running from September 8 to October 20, after a summer of devastating megafires in the southwest left crews exhausted. Unions are demanding roughly 21,000 additional professional firefighters — on top of the current ~44,000 professionals plus volunteers — expanded resources, and rapid adoption of a stalled civil security modernization bill. The strike does not affect emergency response operations. Sit-in demonstrations are planned at Place de la République in Paris on September 26–28, building toward a national march on September 29.