The Provincial Command of Lecce firefighters is in a critical situation. The shortage of operational personnel has become the daily routine, with 92 workers missing from the workforce. Currently, only 88 firefighters operate between the locations of Lecce, Gallipoli, Maglie, Tricase and Veglie, while there should be 180. This crisis represents a significant challenge to ensure safety and timely response to emergencies in the province of Lecce.
To describe the situation is Pasquale Cirilloterritorial coordinator of the FP Cgil Lecce:
Urgent technical rescue services are now based exclusively on the minimum number necessary for their composition. This means that in the various locations we have staff management close to collapse, in which it is increasingly difficult to grant holidays, necessary for psychophysical recovery, in which stressful shifts, in which the team is literally busy for twelve consecutive hours to shut down the fires or other types of intervention are routine.
The summer period is historically the period in which the Lecce Command is most under stress. From the end of May to the end of September, the Salento firefighters guarantee on average 7,000 emergency technical rescue interventions (around 60 per day) to put out summer fires, intervene in road accidents, rescue people, put out fires in houses:
The rescue device deployed refers to five ordinary teams, three supports, one forest team for the entire period, i.e. from 15 June to 15 September. Furthermore, the forestry team partially doubled for a month, roughly starting from mid-July.
Then he continues:
This means that even just a minimal inconvenience, an unforeseen absence, an illness would be enough to create severe discomfort, to the point of sending the entire Command into crisis.
Fire Brigade Crisis in Lecce: Possible Remedies
There shortage of operational personnel to the provincial fire brigade command of Lecce represents a significant challenge to guarantee safety and timely response to emergencies in the province. With 92 workers missing from the workforcethe administration is trying to address the situation with some strategies:
Temporary transfers: The administration has requested the extraordinary and temporary transfer of a suitable number of operational units resident in Lecce but currently working in other Commands. However, this request has not yet received a response.
Involvement of volunteer units: To stem the summer crisis, a greater involvement of the volunteer units present in the Ugento detachment is being considered. However, these units often struggle to form a complete team due to the absence of specific professional figures, such as drivers or team leaders.
The situation remains critical, but the administration is trying to take measures to ensure the safety of the province of Lecce despite the challenges related to staff shortages.
These operational units available to carry out the service could be used to complete the teams in the various provincial detachments. Given that even today it is not always possible to cover the shift entirely.
