Caserne de Pontivy /Pontivy fire station

         

North side

         

North side

        

Main entrance (North side)

       

East and south sides

       

West side

Some numbers ...

• the building is on the first floor with an area of 3229 sq.yd (29052 sq.ft). The size of its training tour is 24,5 yd (73,8 ft) that is 8 floors. The area for fire apparatus is 1145 sq.yd (10305 sq.ft).
• the ground (including the building) has an area of 49400 a.
• the staff is formed of professional and volunteer firefighters :  12 professionals and 60 volunteers (that 3 are nurses)

The building :

1. main entrance
2. management room (place with computer and radio to listen speakings between vehicle and CODIS during a scene. The firefighter has to write all speakings in a special booklet ; he also has to phone the person in charge like the mayor or the boss of the fire station .... according to the order of the chief at the scene. Etc ...)
3. sport room
4. maps and ticket scene printer room
5. firewomen room
6. firemen room
7. junior firemen room
8. SSSM room (for  checkup)
9. class room with a moving partition to separate it and make 2 classrooms
10. kitchen / dining room / living room
11. firemen bedroom (with bathroom)
12. firewomen bedrooms (with bathroom)
13. apparatus room
14. compressor room (safety room to fill SCBA)
15. ambulances room (with heating for winter)
16. laundry to clean our outfit (with washing machine, drier) or just dry it -including boots- (in a special heating cupboard) after the scene
17. fire station chief office
18. training tower (with a special compartment to hang hoses after cleaning to dry it

Others rooms are offices. The hatched zone is for the administration of all the fire stations that Pontivy fire station is responsible.

French langage "Centre de Secours Principal" means Main Rescue Service Center
Breton langage "Penngreizenn-Sikour" means Main Rescue Service Center
Stéphane Strowski is a firefighter from the 1st half part of  20th century. He was Chief of this fire station and was a famous man in Pontivy's town because he did lots of things for the town and the fire station. So his name was given to the fire station.

Grades / Ranks

Firefighters corps

There are 4 groups about firefighters ranks : enlisted men, non-commissioned officers, officers, upper officers.

• enlisted men are (from top to bottom) : private 1st class, private 2nd class, corporal, chief corporal

For around 3-4 years old, there is no more difference between private 1st class and private 2nd class concerning stripes. So new firefighters has the rank of private with private 1st class stripes. When you will pass the test, you become directly corporal and not private 2nd class.

• non-commissioned officers are (from top to bottom) : sergeant, chief sergeant, warrant officer, chief warrant officer

• officers are (from top to bottom) : major company, lieutenant, captain

• upper officers are (from top to bottom) : commander, lieutenant colonel, colonel

SSSM (rescue corps)

They have their own ranks.

• nurses are (from top to bottom) : nurse, main nurse, chief nurse

• doctors are (from top to bottom) : captain doctor, commander doctor, lieutenant colonel doctor, colonel doctor

• pharmacists are (from top to bottom) : captain pharmacist, commander pharmacist, lieutenant colonel pharmacist, colonel pharmacist

• veterinarians are (from top to bottom) : captain veterinarian, commander veterinarian, lieutenant colonel veterinarian, colonel veterinarian

SDIS 56 -Service Départemental d'Incendie et de Secours- / Morbihan's Fire and Rescue Department

SDIS was official for each department of France in 1955. So each department has is own SDIS. Since February 6th 1992, the SDIS has became the only unit which manage and handle all staffs, fire and rescue apparatus and finances means of the department.

SDIS is formed of : CODIS -Centre Opérationnel Départemental d'Incendie et de Secours- (Departmental Coordination Center of Fire and Emergency Medical Services), CTA -Centre de Traitement de l'Alerte- (Handling Center of Alert), SSSM - Service de Santé et de Secours Médical- (Health and Emergency Medical Services), firefighters corps. Each SDIS has once CODIS but can have one or severals CTA. In Morbihan's SDIS there is only one CTA, in the city called Vannes (the main city of the department about administrative service like a capital for a country).

Roles of each SDIS organization : 

• CODIS deals with relations between city authority, departmental authority and all others public or private organizations taking part in rescue operations. It knows all the time in each fire station how many equipments and which one is ready to reply to a call alert (thank to a special network). Of course if it's needed for a rescue operations near of the border with another department, CODIS can ask to launch staffs and equipments form this other department and it will manage them.
• CTA receives the call alert (coming from a phone line or cellphone which is in the department Morbihan), then it launches staffs and equipments means needed. During all the rescue operations, CTA listens and replies to radio messages of firefighters ; if it's needed, it launches more staffs and equipments means. It informs CODIS what happens about the rescue operations.
• SSSM is formed of doctors, nurses, veterinarians and pharmacists. They can work only for the SSSM or both of SSSM and civil medical/vet services. They both intervene in rescue operations and in watching over the health (physical and mental) of firefighters the rest of the time (before being 38 years old we have a medical checkup once every two years, after being 38 years old we have it once every year).
• Firefighters corps is formed of professional and volunteer firefighters. Professionals received a pay and volunteers received an indemnity. The indemnity is calculated in accordance with the time we are on duty during the month ; its value by hour depends on our rank (for example, mine -the lower rank- is $10.69 by hour during an intervention on a scene, $0,96 by hour during the time i'm on duty with my page outside of the fire station, $8,01 by hour during the time i'm on duty at the fire station). In Morbihan there are 319 professionals firefighters and 2473 volunteers firefighters. Firefighters corps is divided into three categories of fire stations depending of the number of vehicles (so firefighters) being able to  reply to call alert in the same time.

Categories of fire stations :

• CSP -Centre de Secours Principal- (main fire station) has to be able to reply in the same time to call alerts with one fire engine (6 firefighters), two ambulances (3 firefighters each), one other vehicle as ladder (2 firefighters)/engine against country fire (4 firefighters)/engine for car crash (3 firefighters) ...
• CS -Centre de Secours- (fire station) has to be able to reply in the same time to call alerts with one fire engine (6 firefighters) or one ambulance (3 firefighters) plus one other vehicle as ladder (2 firefighters)/engine against country fire (4 firefighters)/engine for car crash (3 firefighters) ...
• CPI -Centre de Première Intervention- (fire station for first intervention) has to be able to reply to call alert with one vehicle. Most of time this fire station is in small towns and it has only two vehicles as a car with ambulance equipment except the stretcher (2 or 3 firefighters), an engine against country fire (4 firefighters) or an kind pickup for various operations.

Knowledges about French administration

The country is divided into unit called "région" (region). There are 26 regions that 4 are overseas (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Réunion and Guyane). Mine is called "Bretagne" (Brittany).

Each region is divided into "département" (department). In Brittany there are 4 departments called Côte d'Armor, Finistère, Ille-et-Vilaine and Morbihan. Mine is Morbihan. He has a number like all French departments. To award a number, French Administration has filed departments according the alphabetical order of their name. Morbihan is number 56. In France, there are 100 departments that 4 are overseas.