French national burn mass casualty plan: A burn-specific supplement to national mass casualty plans
Abstract
In France, mass casualty situations are handled through dedicated response plans called ORSEC NOVI for civil protection and ORSAN AMAVI for healthcare. Recent disasters in Europe have reminded that burn mass casualty situations need dedicated planning on top of those. Lethality of severe burns is delayed, and low if patients are treated by specialised multidisciplinary teams in burn centres (BCs). Their scarcity and low capacity make them the main bottleneck when responding to burn mass casualty incidents (BMCI). Relevant orientation of burned casualties towards BCs is key, but initial non-specialised assessment hence resulting triage are poorly reliable. Under saturation, burned casualties need to be initially oriented out of BCs, then re-triaged in hospital by specialists for secondary referral. Overwhelmed regional capacity warrants direct national, and if needed international, escalation. The level of activation of the French national burn mass casualty plan (AMAVI-BR) depends on casualty number: 1-tension, 2-saturation, 3-disaster, respectively with a regional, national and optionally international response. Primary EMS dispatch casualties directly to BCs at level 1, both to BCs and out of BCs at level 2, and exclusively out of BCs at level 3. Primary hospitals can treat burn casualties awaiting referral for 2 to maximum 5 days. The crisis center of the Ministry of health coordinates level 2 and 3 responses with its national burn coordination cell (C2NB) and mobile burn triage teams (EMTB), and if necessary European reinforcements. Officially endorsed in 2026, the French AMAVI-BR national burn mass casualty plan extends the ORSAN AMAVI plan, without replacing it, for numerous burn casualties. It is fully interoperable with the European BMCI response plan.
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BibTeX
@article{leclerc2026french,
title = {{French national burn mass casualty plan: A burn-specific supplement to national mass casualty plans}},
author = {Thomas Leclerc and Nicolas Donat and Benjamin Cohen and Nicolas Louvet and Antoine Aubrion and Olivier Martin and Louise Pasquesoone and Jean-Marc Philippe and Romain Dumont},
journal = {Medecine de Catastrophe Urgences Collectives},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.pxur.2026.09.002},
url = {https://ehesp.hal.science/hal-05788570v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - French national burn mass casualty plan: A burn-specific supplement to national mass casualty plans
AU - Thomas Leclerc
AU - Nicolas Donat
AU - Benjamin Cohen
AU - Nicolas Louvet
AU - Antoine Aubrion
AU - Olivier Martin
AU - Louise Pasquesoone
AU - Jean-Marc Philippe
AU - Romain Dumont
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
JO - Medecine de Catastrophe Urgences Collectives
DO - 10.1016/j.pxur.2026.09.002
UR - https://ehesp.hal.science/hal-05788570v1
AB - In France, mass casualty situations are handled through dedicated response plans called ORSEC NOVI for civil protection and ORSAN AMAVI for healthcare. Recent disasters in Europe have reminded that burn mass casualty situations need dedicated planning on top of those. Lethality of severe burns is delayed, and low if patients are treated by specialised multidisciplinary teams in burn centres (BCs). Their scarcity and low capacity make them the main bottleneck when responding to burn mass casualty incidents (BMCI). Relevant orientation of burned casualties towards BCs is key, but initial non-specialised assessment hence resulting triage are poorly reliable. Under saturation, burned casualties need to be initially oriented out of BCs, then re-triaged in hospital by specialists for secondary referral. Overwhelmed regional capacity warrants direct national, and if needed international, escalation. The level of activation of the French national burn mass casualty plan (AMAVI-BR) depends on casualty number: 1-tension, 2-saturation, 3-disaster, respectively with a regional, national and optionally international response. Primary EMS dispatch casualties directly to BCs at level 1, both to BCs and out of BCs at level 2, and exclusively out of BCs at level 3. Primary hospitals can treat burn casualties awaiting referral for 2 to maximum 5 days. The crisis center of the Ministry of health coordinates level 2 and 3 responses with its national burn coordination cell (C2NB) and mobile burn triage teams (EMTB), and if necessary European reinforcements. Officially endorsed in 2026, the French AMAVI-BR national burn mass casualty plan extends the ORSAN AMAVI plan, without replacing it, for numerous burn casualties. It is fully interoperable with the European BMCI response plan.
SN - 1279-8479
ER -