The President of the Government delivered new ambulances to fire brigades on the island of São Miguel, being the first of a total of 30 vehicles. They represent an investment of about 1.5 million Euros to reinforce the response capacity of Civil Protection services.
 
"These ambulances are part of a set of 30 vehicles. In this regard, the Government will publish today the international public tender for the acquisition of the remaining 22 ambulances," which will be later delivered to the remaining fire brigades throughout the archipelago, announced Vasco Cordeiro.
 
The President of the Government spoke at delivery ceremony of the first eight ambulances to the fire brigades of Ponta Delgada, Ribeira Grande, Vila Franca do Campo and Povoação, which also includes vehicles for the fire brigades of Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória.
 
Vasco Cordeiro stated that the investment in new vehicles is falls within the "goals of improving the response capacity of the Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service (SRPCBA), namely in the pre-hospital emergency component."
 
The criteria for the allocation of these new rescue vehicles took into consideration the state of the fleet of each fire brigade, the operating conditions and the universe of population served by each brigade.
 
According to the President of the Government, the relation between Civil Protection services and the regional associations of volunteer firefighters "is not limited to the equipment component," as it covers other areas such as financing.
 
"We have already scheduled a 10-cent increase in urgent patient transportation payments, with effect as from July 1 of this year. This measure will increase the Region's financing of voluntary firefighters to about 3.5 million Euros in this component, " said the President of the Government.
 
On the occasion, Vasco Cordeiro stated that the revision of the Regional Emergency Civil Protection Plan will be assessed by the Council of the Government in coming days.
 
The revision of the Regional Emergency Plan involved "a thorough process of selecting the options made in this document, which aims to provide the Region with a better response capacity in the event" of a major accident or catastrophe, noted Vasco Cordeiro.
 
The President of the Government stated that the Integrated Protection and Relief Operations System (SIOPS) will be under analysis at the Council of the Government.
 
"From an objective and practical standpoint, it is important to define a series of procedures for coordinating all the components of this response with the aim of providing the Region with a greater and better response capacity to deal with unforeseen situations," said Vasco Cordeiro.
 
At the ceremony, Vasco Cordeiro also offered words of recognition and appreciation to the governing bodies of regional associations of volunteer firefighters and to "all those who make SRPCBA duly qualified fulfil its mission on a daily basis."
 
"In fact, they have greatly contributed to this response capacity and, for this reason, I would like, on behalf of the Government, to express my recognition and pay my tribute to all firefighters in the Azores," said Vasco Cordeiro.