The Chamber of Braga today affirmed its “total availability” to accommodate, at the municipal aerodrome of Palmeira, the “Fire Boss” planes that Civil Protection intends to integrate into the district’s rural fire fighting device in 2020.
In a statement, the Braga Chamber refers that today it wrote a letter to the president of the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC), the national operational commander and the district operational commander, in which it reiterates that availability.
On Thursday, the district commander for relief operations, Hermenegildo Abreu, said that the National Civil Protection Authority wanted to place two “Fire Boss” planes on the Braga aerodrome, but that this was not achieved because it was not possible to reconcile with the normal activity of that infrastructure.
Today, in a statement, the chamber refers that it was contacted in mid-February by Hermenegildo Abreu, in order to position the aforementioned facilities at the Palmeira aerodrome, having then taken care of the “operational constraints that the aerodrome contains, due to protocols already concluded, for decades, with the various entities that use the same space ”.
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These constraints, he adds, “prevented, at the height, the total availability of the aerodrome for the operation”.
“Following this information, the municipality of Braga did not obtain any response or availability to try to find a compromise solution, in time, that would allow the intended operation”, the statement also says.
It stresses that, in the beginning of March, and given the epidemiological situation verified, the operational constraints were “considerably reduced”, but the municipality “was not addressed again on the subject”.
“The municipality of Braga welcomes, at its aerodrome, the firefighting device since its creation in the early 90s, and responded to requests, guaranteeing, whenever possible, the necessary logistical and operational conditions to accommodate the means ANEPC’s operational mechanism, without waiting for any counterpart ”, the statement
Stressing that “it never refused, at any time, to receive the referred operation”, the municipality “reiterates its total availability to analyze, in the current conditions, the reception of the operation, if that is the will” of the National Civil Protection Authority.
To Lusa, the district commander admitted that the two “Fire Boss” would be “a good help”, but underlined that the district device for this year “was reinforced” in relation to 2019, being “prepared” for fighting fires.
He also said he hoped that in 2021 the planes would integrate the device.
In the most critical phase, which runs from July to September, the device will have 440 operational units, 36 more than last year.
The district will also have two helicopters, one in Braga and the other in Fafe.
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