Portugal’s volunteer firefighters’ National Council has voted not to send any operational information to District Relief Operations Commanders, hence cutting the National Civil Protection Authority out of the information loop, as from Saturday night.
The firefighters’ president announced that his members would "immediately abandon" the National Authority for Civil Protection management structure and have nothing more to do with it.
Firefighting teams will not compromise the safety of the public and guarantee that they will continue to function locally, just as before, assured Jaime Marta Soares, the Council's president.
The serious disagreement is over proposals pushed through by the Government that changes the National Civil Protection Authority into the National Authority for Emergencies and Civil Protection, meaning the new authority will be in charge of all firefighting services, something it had proved ill-equipped to perform, judging by the mess it made of managing the summer fires of 2017 and 2018.
"We know how to organise ourselves in terms of command, we had our operational zones, which have been withdrawn, which we are tired of proposing to be restored and which are fundamental tools for the framing of a command structure," said Jaime Marta Soares, the head of the now independent National Council of Firefighters’ League.
The Minister of Home Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, is less than impressed and accused the fire service of "irresponsibility."
Soares accused the minister of a far greater evil - lying, after Cabrita said that the safety of the public was at risk due to understaffing under the old system.
"It does not safety put at stake, as the Minister said. I invite the Portuguese to pass by any fire station to see if there are firefighters or not," said Soares, adding that the minister even said it was "illegal" not to report information to the relevant authorities and said there would be "consequences" for the defaulters.
In a direct message to volunteer firefighters, Eduardo Cabrita said, "Do not call into question this absolute priority, which is to guarantee the safety of populations and the need for coordination among all means of response, depending on the nature and size of the incident."
"The government ensures the safety of the Portuguese and calls for all incidents to be shared through the 112 system, because that is the only way to ensure full communication between all the authorities," added the minister.
Soares complains also of the discussions to date with the government, "We have gone to various meetings with the Minister, we go in with empty hands and leave with a hand full of nothing. We said days ago that, enough is enough, that we were not going to be humiliated and disrespected," Soares was taking part in an RTP programme on Saturday.
"We’ll go to fires but we will not communicate anything to the new command structure," said the fire chief, adding that the population should be assured that, "We are able to do everything to safeguard, save and defend, with or without government."