The relative drop in temperatures may give some respite to people who live in boiling hot homes and workers who are stuck in overheated offices and workshops. Wildfires will perhaps lose strength and firefighters might be able to catch their breath before the next crisis.

But what lessons have been learned from the nightmare of the recent weeks? The government didn’t hold back on praise for the heroism of firefighters and others, and for the wonder of national unity. But Interior minister Nunez has nothing concrete to offer the firefighters who are desperately lacking in resources and were on strike on August 13.

Prime minister Lecornu and a group of ministers travelled to Mérignac (close to Bordeaux) on Monday. Promises were made of emergency measures to rebuild and revive economic activity in the areas that were most affected by the wildfires. But we know from experience that it’s the major companies in all domains from agriculture to tourism that will benefit the most from aid and subsidies.

The government doesn’t care about what is needed to fight the many and devastating fires. It claims to be unable to “quantify precisely” the amount that could be allocated for firefighters, particularly for the number of positions needed. After the Canadair aircraft – promised by Macron but never budgeted for – the government also has no money for essential basic equipment, like effective filter masks that cost 50 euros each.

They want us to foot the bill

As pointed out by the firefighters’ representatives, whether it’s wildfires, healthcare, education or any other of the population’s needs, the response from political leaders always swings between “there’s no money” and “it’s not problem of resources”.

Meanwhile, the government has warned us: this will all be expensive and the billions will have to come from somewhere. The minister for Ecological transition, Monique Barbut, estimates the cost of the heatwave and the drought at something between 10 and 15 billion euros.

The population is already paying a high price for these disasters – working and living conditions are ever harder and prices are higher at the supermarket checkout. The news of the effect of the drought on current and future crops is already driving up prices. And the current price hikes are added to those that came before, fruit and vegetable prices having already increased by 62% over the last decade.

On the pretext that the state budget would be even harder to balance, new attacks are planned against the working class. Economy minister Lescure is once again proposing to freeze retirement pensions as a source of “possible savings”. According to him, the freeze is needed due to the results of the heatwave, wars and the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

But, while state coffers are empty, those of big business are overflowing. TotalEnergies’ net profits for the first semester of 2026 reached more than 11 billion euros: enough to cover the cost of the heatwave announced by Barbut. And the multinationals in the CAC40¹ have again made record profits… That’s where the billions needed to repair the damage are.

We must stop capitalists from destroying our lives

Using capitalist profits to deal with the consequences of climate change would be all the more justified by the fact that it was caused by the capitalist economy.

Producing and transporting merchandise across the globe, organizing and choosing the means of energy production, managing water resources are all essential to humanity. But those questions are all treated from one angle only: how much can shareholders hope to pocket? In which field will investments lead to the biggest profits? Their only motto is ‘who cares what happens when I’m gone?’, which excludes any organization or planning of the economy.

Competition for sharing out resources and markets is also at the root of wars which threaten to become widespread and of the re-arming for which states, including France, are capable of finding billions.

A capitalist, parasitic and irresponsible minority is driving humanity into barbarity and chaos. Workers – the ones who make everything function – have the means to oppose it by taking power and running society themselves.

Nathalie Arthaud