Marseille Naval Fire Battalion

Marseille Naval Fire Battalion (French: Bataillon de marins-pompiers de Marseille, or BMPM) is the fire and rescue service for the city of Marseille.

The battalion is a unit of the French Navy (Marine Nationale), and consists of military personnel, like the Paris Fire Brigade, and is the third largest urban fire service in France. The BMPM are primarily responsible for the safety of Marseille, the second largest city in France, with a population of 1.6 million inhabitants.

History

The BMPM was created on 1 January 1939 by Admiral Jean-Marie Charles Abrial after the fire of the "Nouvelle Gallérie" department store on 28 October 1938, which killed 73 people. The battalion became operational on 2 March 1939 under the command of Captain Louis de l'Escaille with 80 men and 13 vehicles distributed into two fire companies.

Organization

The BMPM consists of 2,400 personnel and 700 vehicles. In 2009, the BMPM responded to 118,000 operations. In 2011, it carried out 123,700 interventions, an average of 339 each day, approximately one every four minutes, with more than 300 daily interventions, for about 400,000 people, making it one of the busiest fire services in Europe.

Operations

The BMPM performs all the typical missions of a fire service, including fire suppression, emergency medical services, technical rescue, and hazardous materials response. It also performs some military and maritime duties.

See also

• French Navy
• Paris Fire Brigade
• Fire department
• Emergency medical services

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