Portimão Council has increased its financial support of the local fire station to over €1 million in 2021.
The funding was approved “unanimously” during a council meeting on Wednesday, February 3.
Most of the money (€592,100) will be used to cover the fire station’s day-to-day operating costs, which will also allow for a team of “at least 15 firefighters” to be available at all times.
The council support also goes towards maintaining its firefighter outpost at the municipal aerodrome in Alvor and to pay for the insurance and maintenance of firefighting vehicles.
Funding also includes €30,500 to cover half of the expenses of the permanent intervention teams, as well as €170,938 to fund the special device to fight rural fires (DECIR), the special force dedicated to fighting wildfires all year round, and keep its members fully equipped.
And finally, the council will also contribute €32,081 towards the regional firefighting forces to ensure each firefighter receives a bonus.
According to the council, Portimão’s fire brigade is among Portugal’s top-10 in terms of human resources, responding to over 9,000 incidents in 2020.
“The firefighters are often also praised for their promptness, taking on average under one minute to leave the station, under 10 minutes to reach the incident site and under 25 minutes to deal with the emergency,” says the council.
