The cooperation protocol between the Municipality of Portimão and the Humanitarian Association of Voluntary Firefighters of Portimão, which enshrines the allocation of more than one million euros to peacekeepers, has already been approved, the municipality announced today.
The approval of the increase in the amount was made unanimously and took place at the Chamber meeting of yesterday, February 3rd, thus allowing the financial envelope to be stabilized at 825.619 euros, to which an additional 200.000 euros per year in investment related to the re-equipment plan of Municipal Civil Protection, with regard to means and resources for firefighters, as well as specialized training for the operational who carry out the missions on a daily basis.
The funding now sanctioned, which has been guaranteed in this way since 2015, this year devotes 592.100 euros to operating expenses, contemplating the maintenance of a minimum intervention force composed of 15 firefighters exclusively for emergency situations, a number that increases in reaction to the special alert status of SIOPS – Integrated System of Protection and Relief Operations.
It also makes it possible to guarantee a 24-hour response, and at first alarm, with different types of special rescues, such as technical rescue by ropes, search and rescue in collapsed structures, rescue in white water, shoring and clearing, rescue in ditches and the materialization of a drone unit.
The Fire Department of Portimão is also responsible for maintaining a detachment in the parish of Alvor, installed at the Municipal Aerodrome.
The cooperation framework also allows for the co-payment of costs inherent to insurance and maintenance of vehicles and equipment for operational missions, to which an additional 30.500 euros relating to the co-payment of costs with Permanent Intervention Teams (EIP), which are guaranteed at 50% by the Central Administration and the rest by the autarchy.
With regard to expenses with DECIR - Special Device for Combating Rural Fires, 170.938 euros were set aside to ensure the capacity to respond throughout the year, both to intervene in the field of defense of the forest against fire, and to maintain the level of individual protection of the women and men who are part of the teams dedicated to combat, guaranteeing equipment in sufficient quality and quantity.
Added to that sum 32.081 euros of contribution for the regional combat device, ensuring a complement to the amount paid to each firefighter.
Portimão firefighters responded to more than 2020 incidents in XNUMX
Last year, the Fire Department of Portimão, which is in the top 10 of the units with the greatest operational capacity in the country in terms of human resources (assuming the highest classification - Type 1), responded to more than XNUMX emergency incidents and civil protection, according to data from the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority.
In addition to this, all the social and humanitarian support activities, within the scope of the Humanitarian Association of Firefighters, must be added.
The institution is committed to the Portimão Chamber, which is responsible for the municipal civil protection authority, to correspond to performance indicators that are based on the output of means within 3 minutes after the dispatch (the current average is below 1 minute), to arrive at the location in the county within 20 minutes (current average below 10 minutes) and to resolve the occurrences in an average time of 90 minutes (average below 25 minutes).
With regard to the current pandemic, the Firefighters of Portimão have assumed a leading role, from the outset through the command and staff structure (multidisciplinary team that operationally directs the unit), which ensures the 24-hour operation of a command post within the scope of the activation of the Municipal Emergency and Civil Protection Plan.
The municipality emphasizes that "the work fronts of peacekeepers from Portimão are still multiplying within the scope of the pandemic", through the service of the Municipal Line "Proteção 24", which now also serves as a support line to Covid-19 in the municipality, for the transport of positive cases to hospital units, as well as for carrying out tests, support to homes and other residential structures for vulnerable groups in the context of public health, technical and logistical support for the assembly and operation of the campaign hospital established in Portimão Arena , and for the dozens of biological risk decontamination actions to restore the normality of contaminated facilities, without forgetting the support to the vaccination teams in the council's homes, all this in addition to the recognized response of excellence in the scope of protection and relief.
The Municipality of Portimão also highlights the «valuable work» that the Humanitarian Association of Firefighters, through the health sector of the Fire Department of Portimão, has developed in conjunction with the Municipal Civil Protection Service to ensure the supply of material and equipment for individual protection (EPI) in the scope of the coronavirus, enabling an integrated and efficient management of the municipal strategic reserve.
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