Speaking to the Civil Protection students attend the final year at ISEC in Lisbon, the Regional Secretariat for Science, Technology and Infrastructures defended the need  to integrate graduates in national and regional fire departments in order to better respond to the new risks and challenges that modern societies have to face.

The Regional Secretary also defended that “only an increasingly qualified Civil Protection will be able to prevent collective risks and the occurrence of serious accidents or catastrophes resulting therefrom; to mitigate risks and limit their collective effects in case of serious accidents or catastrophes; to the rescue and assist people and other living beings in distress; protect assets and cultural, environmental values of public interest and assist people’s return to normal life in the areas affected by serious accidents or catastrophe.”

José  Contente added that since the settlement period, the Azorean people have dealt with catastrophes due to the geodynamics of the Region; however the Civil Protection Service was only created in 1984, having been reformulated in 1997 by a new regional implementing decree that created the current Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service. As a result of these changes, new competences were awarded to the Civil Protection Service, such as the administration of fire brigades and the inland transport of patients.

Addressing the history, geography and geology of the Azores, José Contente emphasises the most functional and operational aspects of the Azores Civil Protection Services, mentioning the administration the regional fire brigades and the autonomous communication network as two relevant aspects that differ from the national services. Finally, the Regional Secretary for Science, Technology and Infrastructures presented several landscapes of the archipelago and explained the risks associated therewith, which are “immeasurably smaller than the beauty that makes us persist and endure amidst the Atlantic for over 500 years.”