In July 2026, Le Parisien asked a question that resonates far beyond firefighting: 'Peut-on compter sur nos Canadair ?' France had 12 aircraft on paper, but only seven were flyable, and just two were deployed on the Gironde megafire that destroyed 240 homes. Maintenance cycles, Canadian spare parts with months of lead time, missing training plans — none of these risks were new. They were known, unmanaged, and became issues at the worst possible moment. As Éric Pauget summariz
