Fire service gets new chief

Tony Varo replaces Christian Chevallier.

Last Tuesday 2nd Feb., Tony Varo was officially given his new post as Commanding Officer of the Sapeurs Pompiers (fire services) [1] in a ceremony at the Prince's Palace. He's been with the service for nearly 17 years and replaces Christian Chevallier who's retiring. Present at the ceremony were heads of the Government, National Council, and Crown Council, as well as the Secretary of State and the Government Advisor for the Interior. During the handover, Chevallier ceremonially returned the fire service's flag to Prince Albert II, who passed it to Tony Varo.

Originally from the Eastern Pyrenees, Varo started out as a fire cadet at the young age of 11. He made firefighting his career in the marine fire services of Marseille, before moving to Monaco in 1993.

As head of the service, Varo has a busy job. Since 1988, the number of interventions has doubled, leading to an average 23 call outs a day, totaling 8300 incidents last year. Having celebrated their centenary on 19th June 2009, the Principality's firefighters went on to experience a record 1500 call outs during 2 summer months, a 5% increase over the previous year. On one day in July, the services were mobilized 47 times. But it's not always to heroically battle the flames. Many emergencies are nothing more than illnesses or injuries that should be sorted out with a visit to the pharmacy. Hence firefighters are also trained to deal with the 70% of interventions that require sending out an ambulance.

With so much work, it's essential that there's enough housing for the 130 firefighters and their families. New Chief Vero will closely follow the planned 3rd fire station at Testimonio, as well as the renovation work at Fontvieille barracks. Construction started on an extension of 2 floors in Spring 2009, to increase the number of apartments. It should be completed at the end of this year, in time for its inauguration on 4th December, feast day of Saint Barbe, the patroness of firefighters.