The President of the Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service (SRPCBA) highlighted the commitment to promote training on rural fire suppression, with a view to "providing firefighters with the appropriate knowledge to respond safely and effectively to this type of fire."
Carlos Neves spoke in the context of the training course taking place on the island of Terceira, an initiative conducted by trainers from the National Fire School that involves the participation of 12 members from the fire brigades of Angra do Heroísmo, Praia da Vitória and Faial. On the occasion, he stressed that “this training is increasingly relevant and necessary, taking into account that there was an increase of 20% in rural fires in the Region this year, compared to the average registered since 2017."
"Some of these fires were caused by the burning of overgrown vegetation that ended up out of control," Carlos Neves said, recalling that, although this activity is authorised in the Azores, it is mandatory to report it to the local fire department as well as to adopt specific safety measures.
With this training, Azorean firefighters are “better prepared and ready to respond to requests for assistance from Mainland Portugal and other island regions in situations of severe fires, as has already happened in the past," added the government official.
The Rural Fire Suppression Training has been part of the SRPCBA training plan since 2019, the year when two training courses were held for 39 firefighters from the islands of Santa Maria, São Miguel, Terceira and Faial.
This year, besides this training course held on the island of Terceira, there is another planned for São Miguel fire brigades, involving a total of 24 participants.
This training initiative covers, among other subjects, the identification of factors and characteristics that influence the ignition and development of rural fires, the identification of safety rules and procedures, and the application of the safety, selection and operation protocols for different equipment designed to suppress rural fires, both individually and as a team.