Overview
- The intersyndicale of nine firefighter unions announced the strike notice on Friday, August 28, scheduling industrial action from 8 September to 20 October to pressure the government around the 8 September handover of a modernization bill and the 20 October vote on the 2027 finance bill.
- Unions list three central demands: explicit state participation in Services départementaux d'incendie et de secours (SDIS) financing, the hiring of 20,000 additional professional firefighters and quick adoption of a civil‑security modernization law with stronger worker protections.
- Firefighters say the move follows an intense summer of megafires that burned roughly 120,000 hectares, which exposed response limits and high workloads for about 44,000 professional firefighters plus volunteers.
- Officials say the Direction générale de la sécurité civile will present the draft law to unions on 8 September and that increased SDIS funding will be addressed in the 2027 finance bill, but unions remain skeptical and want binding commitments.
- Unions plan late‑September static demonstrations in Paris and other cities, yet CFDT representatives warn the strike may have limited visible disruption because many striking firefighters are likely to be requisitioned to maintain emergency cover.