The Minister of Internal Affairs has assured that the air means defined by the Government to fight the forest fires is secured with the hiring of another 12 aircraft.

According to Eduardo Cabrita, part of the 50 aircraft contracted “is something unprecedented, because it allows to have an answer, either in helicopters or in airplanes, throughout the year, that is, from January to December.”

The minister was speaking to journalists at of the presentation of the Special Rural Fire Fighting Device (DECIR) for the Algarve that took place in Portimão, Faro district, which was attended by Safe Communities Portugal.

There are about a thousand more personnel than last year,” he stressed, recalling that the GIPS contingent “has been strengthened, extending its action to the whole territory of the continent and the autonomous region of Madeira.”

According to Eduardo Cabrita, there are more than 250 professional teams at national level that cover all municipalities where risky parishes have been identified, ensuring that the Government “will go further until the end of the year, in a project in coordination with the Portuguese Firemen’s League” .

“We will have by the end of the year more than 1,500 firefighters with professional status supported by the National Civil Protection Authority,” he said.

The Minister of Home Affairs participated today in the presentation of DECIR for the Algarve that took place in the Arena pavilion of Portimão, where Algarsafe, the International Fair of Civil Protection and Relief, is taking place.

It is the largest fair of its kind in the region, with about one hundred public and private exhibitors in