MEMBERS OF a special fire protection support unit – Grupo de Intervenção de Protecção e Socorro – GIPS, (Intervention, Protection and Assistance Unit) began arriving in the Algarve earlier this week. The GIPS, a sub-group of the GNR, will stay in the region until September, to help prevent and fight forest fires.
Their arrival coincided with Operation “Floresta Verde” (Green Forest), an action programme designed to warn the public about the dangers of forest fires. The GIPS, based in the barracks of the Faro Territorial Group in the region’s capital, have been patrolling vulnerable forestry areas around Cachopo, Loulé and Monchique.
For its part, Faro Territorial Group has been performing manoeuvres in rural areas of the concelhos of Faro, Loulé, Olhão, São Brás de Alportel, Tavira, Castro Marim, Alcoutim and Vila Real de Santo António, everyday between 2pm and 8pm, promoting information and awareness of the problem of fires. It has been increasing awareness through direct contact with and distribution of brochures to the general public, local authorities, institutions and associations in those areas”.
Firefighting units will be integrated this summer
Last weekend, Interior Minister António Costa visited several areas of the country, including the Algarve, in a bid to reassure the public that this summer will not see a repeat of last year’s devastating fires that killed 16 people. In the Algarve alone, 325,000 hectares of forestry were burned in 2005.
Meanwhile, a new government directive will integrate members of the GNR into one firefighting corps. Antonio Costa announced that all firefighting teams and support groups should be integrated into one unit. He described it as a “vital step” in order to win the battle against forest fires. Costa said the key was “to arrive as early as possible at the scene of infernos, when they are still nascent”.
Costa said that the time had come to “do away” with the annual spectacle of raging forest fires. He appealed to people to keep forests clean and said that “risk behaviour” should be eliminated. Costa appealed for “unity” among all the fire-fighting groups that will integrate into one unit from May 15, a reference to previous disagreements between bombeiros and soldiers.
But, not everyone welcomed the integration of the GNR into the firefighting corps. The president of the Association of Professional Firemen, Fernando Curto, expressed doubts about the policy. “We will see if three months is sufficient time to prepare such a force,” he said. “Every year there are great plans, but every year we see what happens. I hope that this year will be different,” he added.
