“A succession of complaints due to safety failings”
Reports today are pointing to the safety (or otherwise) of the fire engine that overturned on a bend in the municipality of Odemira last Wednesday, so seriously injuring one of its crew that he has since died of his injuries.
This morning tabloid Correio da Manhã comes right out and says it: “The fire engine of Odemira firefighters that went out of control on Wednesday night, leaving four injured and one dead (…) belonged to a batch of 87, delivered between 2023 and 2024, by the previous government, and generating, particularly in the Alentejo, a succession of complaints due to safety failings.
“Safety inspections of several of these engines, ordered by ANEPC (the national Civil Protection authority), have already been planned and will begin on Monday”, the paper continues, saying it “knows that the vehicles, the acquisition of which was signed by former secretary of state for Civil Protection Patrícia Gaspar, were purchased with money from the European Plan for Recovery and Resilience (PRR)”, and that “it was necessary to transform the fire brigade’s transport cabins by installing a steel side bar to protect them in the event of a rollover.
However, “the firm, Jacinto, responsible for these alterations, told CM, that the adjustments (were) to improve the use of the vehicles, not for questions of safety (…)
“If there was a failure in the accident, it will not have been due to problems of construction or alteration of the vehicle”, said a source.
Elsewhere, an online report today has similar information.
Journalist Teixeira Correia begins his text explaining that “the fire-fighting vehicle involved in last Wednesday’s accident was due to be inspected on Monday to correct problems”.
Correia’s information points to the vehicle having been handed over by the current government in a “first batch of 10 vehicles delivered on May 14 in Ourém at a ceremony presided over by Margarida Blasco, Minister of Internal Affairs, and Duarte Costa, President of the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC).
“The forest fire-fighting vehicles (VFCI) and rural tactical tank vehicles (VTTR) were delivered to the firefighters under the ‘Mais floresta-Reforma do Sistema de Prevenção e Combate a Incêndios’ programme of the Recovery and Resilience Plan, with European funding, totalling 81 units, worth more than €14 million”, he writes, equally referring to “some body shop anomalies”.
Over social media, a former firefighter who features the image of the damaged vehicle, used above, also observes: “When I see the images of the accident and the deformation of the cab, I wonder if the Rollbar (St Anthony’s), structures that are or should be inside the vehicle’s passenger compartment for the safety of the occupants in the event of accidents, particularly rollovers, with the aim of preventing the roof from sinking and hitting the occupants, has fulfilled its function”.
António Coelho, president of the Association of Firefighters of Odemira, has stressed that he was informed early on, during initial tests of the vehicles, of “difficulties in the passenger compartment, and lack of support rungs for the firefighters.
“For this reason, once we know the results of the investigations by the GNR and by ANEPC, we will go to the final consequences, as far as court (if necessary)”, he said.
These disturbing reports – much stronger in some media sources than in others – see Correio da Manhã conclude that it “knows that firefighters in Ponte de Sor, Mértola and Alcácer do Sal, “who received similar vehicles, have already issued orders limiting or even eliminating their use”.
If this is the case, it raises questions on the spending of Europe’s PRR millions (and billions) of euros.
Two of the firefighters also injured in this incident are still being treated in hospital.
The funeral, meantime, of Dinis Campos Conceição will be taking place tomorrow. ND
Source material: Correio da Manhã/ SIC Notícias/ lidadornoticias.pt/
