Portugal will send a contingent of 144 people, including firefighters, GNR soldiers and medical personnel, to Chile’s Concepción province this Saturday to help put out the wildfires ravaging the country, Civil Protection said.
This contingent, known as the Joint Task Force and coordinated by the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC), leaves the Figo Maduro military terminal in Lisbon at 22:00 on a commercial aircraft bound for the Concepción province, in the Bio Bio region of Chile, he said in a statement.
This Portuguese group consists of 144 operatives from the ANEPC, the ANEPC Civil Protection Special Forces, the GNR, the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), the fire brigades in the Lisbon region and the Tagus Valley, and the National Institute for Emergency Medicine (INEM), he said.
Civil Protection stressed that these operatives are skilled in fighting wildfires and carry ground assets and hand tools.
This Portuguese aid was already announced on Friday by the European Commission, which in its statement spoke of 141 rather than 144 experts.
“Portugal’s assistance is linked to the request for international assistance in the fight against forest fires, formulated by the Chilean authorities through the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union,” Civil Protection stressed.
Chile is facing a wave of wildfires in the center and south of the country that has killed several people, displaced hundreds of people from their homes and caused damage to buildings.
The regions most affected were Biobio, Sible and La Araucania.
In addition to Portugal, Spain and France are also providing assistance: Madrid is providing two land-based forest fire fighting teams with a total of 28 people, and a forest fire assessment and advisory team consisting of ten experts. France sent a team of 80 firefighters.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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