Civil Defense considers the combat device to be “stable and reliable”

The President of the National Emergency Management and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), Duarte da Costa, said on Tuesday that the special device for combating rural fires (DECIR) for 2024 will be “stable and reliable”.

“2024 represents (…) a stable and reliable device and is valuable not so much for the quantitative increase, but above all for the qualitative increase obtained as a result of the training and educational activities that we have been carrying out since last year,” stated Duarte da Costa in Oura (Santarém).

In this year’s DECIR presentation, the President of ANEPC emphasized that it is a “collective effort of the operatives” who are part of it, but also of all citizens, since everyone, “as part of active citizenship,” is “Truly agents of civil protection.”

Duarte da Costa added that “the most important factors for the success of this system are prevention and awareness campaigns,” emphasizing that “a fire campaign is not won by fighting, but by prevention.”

In this regard, he listed “continuous monitoring of risk assessments and their impact on the territory, pre-positioning and preventive mobilization of funds and resources” and “early detection, as early as possible, supported by an increasingly collaborative approach to surveillance.” and all technical surveillance capabilities.”

Added to this is “the constant search for efficiency and efficiency in the management of information systems and decision support systems, the unity of command and control combined with the unity of effort aimed at suppressing everything earlier,” as well as “the immediate and muscular dispatch of all means of combat.”

Regarding “the goals to be achieved, which are the true indicators of performance evaluation,” Duarte da Costa noted that “they will always be the safety of human life, the integrity of the operating personnel, the protection of the environment and animal life, and the protection of our commons.”

Previously, the President of ANEPC stated that this device “is perhaps one of the most striking examples of a culture of cooperation in Portugal”, in which “people and organizations from a wide variety of intervention sectors mobilize in a huge joint and simultaneous effort a diverse and reliable system of fire-fighting equipment in rural localities and holds them accountable” ANEPC “to respond to one of the biggest challenges” that “the country faces every year.”

According to Duarte da Costa, the device “is the result of a thorough analysis of the processes involved in emergency response,” which led to a remodeling of the system that “continues to be based on three main value chains.”

These include “greater and faster forecasting and decision support capabilities, better communication and coordination, and a network of operational capabilities for faster response and greater flexibility,” he explained.

During the session, the Recovery and Resilience Plan delivered the first 10 vehicles of a total of 81 wildland firefighting and tactical bushfire tanker vehicles. The rest will be delivered by October 31st.

“It’s been 12 years since this type of vehicle was handed over to firefighters,” he said, stressing the importance of giving corporations “more powerful power.”

The number of operators involved in fighting rural fires will increase slightly this year, with 14,155 expected to be deployed during months considered the most critical, but the unit will have two fewer air assets, according to the national operational directive establishing DECIR.

According to ANEPC, the ground device will consist of 14,155 elements and 3,173 vehicles during the peak resource allocation period, from July 1 to September 30, which is called the “Delta level.”

The same thing happens with available vehicles, which increase by 183, increasing from 2990 to 3173.

In what is considered the most critical season for rural fires, 70 aircraft will be deployed this year, two fewer than in 2023.