From Monday 22 to Friday 26 September 2025, 31 civil protection personnel from the Valavran ORPC were engaged for the annual course in the Support field. Several missions were assigned to three officers, supervised by the deployment leader Khoren Haroutunian. They were all accomplished in difficult conditions, with cool temperatures, heavy rain and, therefore, mud.
Despite this unpleasant weather, the Valavran ORPC worked brilliantly during these five days for the well-being and safety of the community. It was also able to refresh its knowledge in the use of different tools and materials, while being able to perfect her skills specific to this field. This report presents the projects carried out on the territory of its municipalities.
Grand-Saconnex – Cemetery car park
Supervision: First Lieutenant David Galley.
Total personnel: 17 people on the two Grand-Saconnex construction sites.
Mission: Fill in the holes with material and change logs in the parking lot.
Material used: Backhoe loader, compactor (vibrating plate), roller, shovel, pickaxe, sledgehammer, drill, crowbar, tar scraper.
The parking lot was in a bad state. Numerous holes, sometimes large and deep, had formed over the years, endangering the integrity of the vehicles. Several logs lining the parking spaces were also worn by time.
In order to give a new shine to the parking lot, several members of the Valavran ORPC moved material, sometimes recovered from the construction site next door, where they rehabilitated a path which leads to the bottom of the Blanché cemetery, a stone's throw from the football stadium. They also drew from the 25 m3 of material delivered for this work.
It was necessary to scrape, compact, shovel, level, level. The most difficult part: emptying the water from the swarms, removing the old material then following the slopes of the land to prevent new holes from being formed by the rains.
Grand-Saconnex – Path to the cemetery
Supervision: First Lieutenant Sébastien Vuille.
Total personnel: 17 people on the two Grand-Saconnex construction sites.
Mission: Repair of the path between the car park and the top of the cemetery.
Material used: Backhoe loader, caterpillar, compactor, shovel, pickaxe,
sledgehammer, rotary hammer, crowbar, generator, asphalt rake.
The path which leads from the car park to the back of the Blanché cemetery had had its day after an initial refurbishment by the Valavran ORPC in 2019. It was less and less defined and was gradually fading away.
Under the direction of First Lieutenant Sébastien Vuille, civil protection personnel first dug the outside of the path, then scraped the first layer of the path and removed this material.
They were then able to lay new logs along the hundred or so meters of the path. The timbers were drilled then fixed to the ground using baramines, planted with the mass. New material was deposited to a height of 15 centimeters. Finally, they raked, leveled and compacted using the vibrating plate and the roller. The good weather on Thursday dried the material, which thus hardened.
The mud, due to the rain, complicated the work of civil protection personnel. Additionally, the narrow access prevented the Valavran ORPC from moving large quantities of material simultaneously.
Supervision: Corporal Dylan Lavanchy
Total personnel: 8 people.
Mission: Tear down the hedge and the barrier along the road. Remove the lawn grids.
Material used: Shovel, backhoe loader, wheelbarrow, cutting pliers,
chainsaw, slings.
Corporal Dylan Lavanchy's team was busy destroying the hedge and the barrier which separates the municipal road from the courtyard of the Genthod primary school, with a length of almost 70 meters. Assisted by the former deputy commander, Christian Devaud, civil protection personnel tore up the plants, cut the barrier and the grass grids.
They had to work together to pull and cut the metal. By attaching a sling to the end of the backhoe loader, they were able to use the power of the machine to pull the hedge out of the ground. In certain places, it was necessary to remove and then replace the advertising panels. Using pickaxes, civil protection personnel removed the numerous grass grids embedded in the ground. They benefited from the support of the Genthod road network.
Apart from the unpredictable weather, the discovery of a hornet's nest in the trunk of a tree surprised civil protection personnel, worried about the proximity to the school and its students.
Céligny – Ruisseau du Brassus
Supervision: Corporal Dylan Lavanchy.
Total personnel: 6 people.
Mission: Cleaning, clearing and securing work.
Material used: Chainsaw, protective equipment, fishing boots, pitchfork.
The Brassus stream is bordered by forest. Every year, rain and wind move branches and bring down trees that obstruct the passage of water and paths.
After a quickly successful first mission near Genthod, a team led by Corporal Dylan Lavanchy went to Céligny to clean part of the stream.
Using chainsaws, pitchforks and ropes, six civil protection members put on waders to enter the stream and remove the tree trunks that had accumulated there over the past year.
Regularly, the ORPC of Valavran assists the municipality of Céligny in cleaning Le Brassus. It was also the civil protection personnel who built the wooden bridge which crosses the stream near the cemetery in 2016.
