Sécurité Civile

[6] The EC-145 fleet is used for search and rescue, fire fighting, emergency medical services (EMS), surveillance and law enforcement.

[7] The EC 145 carries out an average 10,000 rescue missions each year, representing over 13,300 flight hours.

In summer, aircraft are detached to Courchevel, Alpes d'Huez, Gavarnie, Lacanau, and Chamonix.

[10] Two pre-owned Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s, acquired from Scandinavian Airlines System, were modified by Cascade Aerospace of Abbotsford, British Columbia, for the Sécurité Civile to act as fire-fighting water bombers in fire season and as transport aircraft off season.

They also provide assistance during official travel or large demonstrations and disarm and destroy dormant ammunition still present from the two world wars.

[13] In 2004, 440 tonnes (430 long tons; 490 short tons) of munitions was disposed of, whilst forty-three bomb disposal experts were deployed on the sixtieth anniversary of the Normandy landings, seventeen on the sixtieth anniversary of the landing in Provence, and sixteen during the visit of Pope John Paul II to Lourdes.