According to this report on the Bombeiros website (www.bombeiros.pt), quoting the President of the Portuguese Fireman’s League (LPB) Marta Soares,  firefighters are preparing to boycott the next National Forest Protection Authority’s (ANPC) Special Fire-Fighting Mechanism if the government does not guarantee adequate responses to its demands by the end of February.

“Firefighters will not participate in firefighting reinforcement groups (GRIF and GRUATA and ELAC) nor will captains integrate district structures if the Government does not comply with our proposals,” said Jaime Marta Soares, President of the PFL, at its Extraordinary National Council, meeting held this Saturday in Palmela.

Among the proposals is the creation of 250 Permanent Intervention Teams (EIP) in all fire brigades, in a total of 1,250 elements, with priority in the municipalities with the highest risk index, a number that the Government lowered to 40, “far behind of the real needs, “said Jaime Marta Soares. Also the payment of 50 euros per day for the elements that integrate the device will have to be accepted by the Government, which defined the increase of the current 46 euros for the 48.

“The government is not respecting firefighters, it is taking harmful actions to the people and will keep the boy in their hands,” added the president of the LPB.

The Extraordinary National Council also served to assess the contacts made with the Government in the last two months. “With every discussion we were having we left with one empty hand and another full of nothing,” said Jaime Marta Soares. “The working groups are constituted but drag on for months and the greatest seriousness will be when we reach the critical period,” he warned.

At the start of the meeting, the Porto and Viseu Firefighters Federations had internally approved not to integrate all of the next Special Firefighting Mechanism (DECIF), which led to a decision among all 20 federations. “Until the 28th we will see what happens and from there, all the federations are free to do whatever they want.”