Cruz Lusa firefighters "return to school" in Gorjões to reinforce operationality

Cruz Lusa firefighters “return to school” in Gorjões to reinforce operationality

By Nuno Costa • July 11, 2020 - 11:00

New deployment ensures faster response to forest fires

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The Cruz Lusa volunteer fire department, from Faro, went back to school and now has an outpost in the town of Gorjões, in the parish of Santa Bárbara de Nexe. The former primary school was equipped to receive, at all times, seven workers during the critical phase of fighting forest fires, and the new detachment was officially inaugurated this Friday, 10 July.

At the opening ceremony, in addition to Rogério Bacalhau, president of the Chamber of Faro, also participated José Apolinário, secretary of State coordinating the State of Alert in the Algarve region, Vítor Vaz Pinto, District Operational Commander of Faro, Rui Baptista Graça, Municipal Civil Protection Coordinator, Sérgio Martins, President of the Parish Council of Santa Bárbara de Nexe, Steven Piedade, President of the Humanitarian Association of Firefighters Faro Cruz Lusa and the Fire Department Command elements.

In statements to the Sul Informação, the mayor Rogério Bacalhau explained that this idea is not new. “Last year, we tried this possibility, but the firefighters were here without great conditions, because it was decided at the last minute, in the summer.

Therefore, reinforces the mayor, it was something “we had already been thinking about, to make it more operational. This year, we prepared with more time. We had this room, on a lending basis with the association of Gorjoanenses and they made it available. So we started to work. But much of what is done here was done by the association itself and by the firefighters. The Parish Council also helped, and so did we».

With this new equipment, “we are left here with an outpost, from which firefighters can get out more quickly if there is a fire than if they had to leave town. In the city, we have the Firefighters Sapadores more focused on urban combat. The Cruz Lusa Firefighters are more focused on forestry combat and it makes more sense for them to be here. This placement is strategic».

Although only during the summer the firefighters stay permanently in the new detachment, Rogério Bacalhau explains that «the idea is that this space is used by the firefighters all year round. During this time, the alert phase, they will be here for 24 hours, but in winter they will use the facilities for training or other activities, because the space is good for that», he concluded.