Faced with the third heatwave in two months, the government announced on Friday July 10 the triggering of an Orsec “extreme heat” plan in the departments placed on red alert by Météo France. A historic first: this device, usually reserved for floods, storms or industrial accidents, has never been used in this situation.
Orsec means “organization of civil security response”. Created in the 1950s under the name “emergency organization”, this system took its current form with the civil security modernization law of 2004. It is deployed when an event exceeds the usual management capacities of a territory. The prefect then takes the lead in mobilizing and coordinating all the actors concerned such as the firefighters, the Samu, the police, the gendarmerie, the town halls, but also the managers of the water, electricity and telecommunications networks.
Concretely, the prefect sets up a departmental operational center at the prefecture, which centralizes information and manages decisions. If the crisis extends beyond a single department, one of the seven defense zone prefects takes over; at sea, he is the maritime prefect. But the system is not fixed. It is broken down according to the nature of the risk, with specific components such as Orsec-Novi (numerous victims), Orsec-flood or Orsec-drinking water.
What changes with the “extreme heat” plan
The Orsec plan has already been activated for various crises. During the floods in the Var in 2010, it helped organize relief and evacuations. After the Brétigny-sur-Orge train accident in 2013, then the attack of July 14, 2016 in Nice, Orsec-Novi plans were put in place to coordinate the care of the numerous victims. Further back in time, the failure of the Malpasset dam in 1959 remains one of the founding episodes that led to the structure of this type of emergency system.
Until now, heat came under a simple health aspect, the “management of heat waves”, resulting from the national heatwave plan created after the deadly episode of 2003. This aspect remained confined to a public health logic and managed mainly by the Regional Health Agencies (ARS).
The new Orsec “extreme heat” plan, presented during an interministerial crisis unit and activated for the first time this Friday, officially raises the heatwave to the rank of disasters managed as a civil security crisis in its own right, in the same way as a flood or a storm. Management therefore falls to the prefect, with expanded powers such as postponing or canceling events, adapting working hours or opening refreshment centers in each department.
Heatwave, a major risk
The other novelty is the targeting of vulnerable groups. The text provides for increased identification of isolated people, often elderly and in towns, who pay the heaviest price during heat waves. Prefects must rely on updated registers with the municipalities, the Central Fund for Social Activities (CCAS) and the CAF. The Post Office network of postmen is also mobilized to identify single people.
This change comes as France is experiencing its third heatwave in less than two months. By establishing extreme heat as a major risk, in the same way as other natural disasters, the government recognizes that heat waves are no longer exceptional episodes, but crises that are likely to be repeated and which must therefore be anticipated as such.
