A new ‘first attack’ helicopter is being assigned to the Algarve as the region prepares for another potentially fraught summer season.
The new chopper will be stationed in Loulé and boosts the number of local air-support fire-fighting craft to four.
Algarve fire chief Vítor Pinto said the helicopter will be available from June 15 to the end of September – traditionally the most dangerous period for forest and wildfires.
At the same time, AMAL, the Algarve’s municipalities association, has revealed it will be upping the pay of emergency forest firefighters by an extra €15 a day.
The money – a total of €317,000 – will be paid equally by all 16 borough councils.
AMAL president Jorge Botelho explained the reasoning for the decision: “It is easier to convince a 20-year-old boy to go the beach than it is to fight fires in the middle of the forest.”
The Algarve’s special forest fire unit is made up of 716 men who are currently paid only €45 for a 24-hour shift. With the AMAL cash boost, this sum will rise to €60.
Only last year, eight firefighters lost their lives in some of the worst forest fires the country has ever seen.
