a mayor severely burned whereas repairing a boiler | EUROtoday

FDid he see his accident as a logo of the overwork of mayors of small cities? Maybe. Sunday December 8, Olivier Bureaux, DVD mayor of Longueville-sur-Scie, a city of slightly below 1,000 inhabitants positioned about fifteen kilometers from Dieppe (Seine-Maritime), was severely burned throughout an intervention .

Just a few days later, the shock offers approach to introspection. He confides straight in Point : “What happened to me that evening was really a stupid accident. I was tired, angry and unfocused, and this is the first time I’ve been fooled like this. I always liked to be of service, but here I paid a high price. »

“Dizzier and more tired than usual”

Backtracking. On the weekend of December 7 and eight, the Dieppe area was closely hit by storm Darragh. Gusts at 160 km/h, 30,000 houses disadvantaged of electrical energy, a 66-year-old man died, trapped by the heavy and sudden precipitation… The weekend was intense and tiring for all of the inhabitants of the realm.

In Longueville-sur-Scie, Olivier Bureaux and his deputies had been on alert. “The wind was blowing very strongly and trees were falling on the road,” remembers this former skilled firefighter in Rouen. After clearing the streets of the city for 48 hours, Sunday night, the councilor returned house, considering he had completed his day.

ALSO READ “Help, my town hall is going off the rails”: why so many slip-ups? “I made myself comfortable, peaceful at home. I sat down on my sofa, and not even five minutes later, I received a text from an administrator: the town’s wood boiler, which supplies the homes, had gone out. » A rather unusual situation apparently.

A handyman, like many mayors of small towns, Olivier Bureaux therefore decided to go and restart the boiler himself, as he has already done on many occasions. But, “more dizzy and more tired than usual”, when he arrived on web site, he made a dealing with error. “I think the boiler had been turned off recently…” After placing the wooden, the combustion product and an ignition dice again into the mechanism, he tried to relight the boiler, in useless. “I got a flashback in the face. »

“Today, elected officials from small towns are multitasking”

Keeping his good firefighter reflexes, he shortly discovered a water level and splashed his face. “If I hadn’t had anything on hand, it could have been much worse…” he provides. Accompanied by his assistant throughout his accident, he was taken care of by the firefighters in lower than 10 minutes, earlier than being taken to the Dieppe hospital for emergency remedy. Results: first and second diploma burns over the whole face and one hand. “Everything else is a very bad sunburn,” slips the mayor.

ALSO READ How Thomas, 85% burned, was saved by sea wormsToday, Olivier Bureaux feels significantly better. “It’s especially my nose that always hurts me. »

As the primary contacts for residents in small towns, mayors have been facing deep unease for several years, fueled by the budgetary and political contexts which weigh on local authorities. Since the start of the mandate of mayors elected during the June 2020 municipal elections, 2,400 have resigned, raising fears of a democratic crisis, particularly in rural areas.

ALSO READ Jean-Christophe Fromantin: “The State relies too much on mayors” “Today, elected officials from small towns are multitasking,” says Olivier Bureaux. We are at all times obliged to answer requests from residents. I’m even typically disturbed throughout the summer time as a result of somebody’s scooter makes an excessive amount of noise or another person makes use of the comb cutter on Sunday. […] An elected official from the town of Paris mustn’t know the place the meter return to service for this or that college is positioned, whereas we all know it for every constructing. We know easy methods to restore public lighting, troubleshoot… That’s my imaginative and prescient of being an area elected official. Plus, we do it with ardour. »

The mayor additionally sends a message to successive governments: “It hurts my heart to hear the State giving moral lessons to mayors and accusing them of widening the deficit,” he says, bitterly.

“The dressings are impressive but that’s normal with the ointment”

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But all isn’t darkish. Following his accident, the mayor posted a protracted message of thanks on Facebook, accompanied by two photographs worthy of an Egyptian mummy. “The dressings are impressive but that’s normal with the ointment,” the mayor commented on his Facebook. This submit sparked almost 800 reactions. “It warmed my heart,” provides the mayor. I even obtained emails and textual content messages from mayors from throughout France, to assist me and who acknowledge themselves in my speech. »

Ultimatelyfor him, this accident isn’t prone to name into query his future as mayor. “Just, next time I’ll try to be more focused and less tired.” »