The President of the Portuguese Association of Security and Civil Protection Technicians (Asprocivil) considered today, in parliament, “a strategic mistake by the Regional Government” of Madeira for not being part of the rural fire national combat plan.
“Integration at the national level was fundamental, and this is a strategic mistake by the Regional Government, which should not have been refused, but I know why they were left out, it is because if they were part of the plan they would have to comply with a series of rules that they do not comply with, this is the problem,” said Ricardo Ribeiro.
The head of Asprocivil, who was speaking at the Committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, at a hearing on the management of civil protection means in the August 2024 fire in the Autonomous Region of Madeira, added that, with this decision, “the population is paying for this omission.”
“This integration favours the principle of subsidiarity of the system,” stressed Ricardo Ribeiro, who despite not wanting to “get into party politics” admitted that “the subsidiarity of the system is not only” to send resources, it also serves to verify’s the the RG did not do their homework and that could explain why there was such a delay in requesting additional help.”
The authorities of Madeira were invited, in 2020, to join the National Fire Management Plan, but refused and also decided not to apply the legislation that regulates the Integrated Rural Fire Management System.
At the hearing, deputy Fabian Figueiredo, from the Left Bloc, questioned whether “for an effective fight against rural fires throughout the territory it is no longer useful that the entire territory is integrated” at the national level, with “the evident respect for regional autonomies”.
In addition to confirming that the means should be activated as soon as possible, Ricardo Ribeiro, in response to the socialist Miguel Iglésias, said that the problem was not only in the statements of regional officials that the Canadair planes could not refuel, when “those who could not refuel were the helicopters, because the cisterns where the bucket should be filled were mostly damaged”, leading to wasting more time on refueling.
In this sense, in the conclusions and proposals, the leader of Asprocivil listed the integration into the SIRESP network of the autonomous region of the support forces, such as the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority, the hiring of two heavy helicopters, to be added to the light ones, the integration in the integrated management plan for rural fires and the “deepening of protocols” with the islands that belong to the European Union.
The Secretary General of the National Union of Civil Protection, José Costa Velho, also present at the hearing, warned that some Madeirans also do not like forests, because if they did they would be more careful, both in its prevention and in the coordination of means and management plans. He then commented that the helicopter water supply cisterns contained grass, earth, and literally everything, but water.
For the union leader, their activity “does not have to be limited only to the problems of the workers,” but “to have a global vision on all matters” and, therefore, they argue that “it is worth protecting forests.”
Social Democrat Paula Margarido, for whom the hearing requested by the PS is “committing an infringement of the Constitution” and “the powers of the regional autonomies,” when the legislative assembly of Madeira has already created a parliamentary commission of inquiry into the fires of August, questioned what was the “pioneer government” in the creation of the forest firefighter and noted that the “forest police” in Madeira can “retire at the age of 60.”
Earlier this week, the discussion of the fires in Lisbon caused some anxiety within the Regional Government, with Manuel António Correia, former Regional Secretary of the Governments of Alberto João Jardim and who ran for candidate leadership of the PSD this year against Miguel Albuquerque, considered the initiative of the parliamentary group of the national PS, “with the support of the deputies elected by the PS/Madeira,” to discuss in the Assembly of the Republic, an “attack on the autonomy” of Madeira. “
“Without prejudice to my opinion on the subject of regional fire management,” he wrote on his social network pages, “I cannot fail to publicly express my total condemnation of this deeply offensive act of our inalienable Political Autonomy!”
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
