The summer fire season has only just begun, yet there have already been peak moments in Rome and its province. And if we cannot yet speak of an alarm, it is also true that the situation is already a red flag. On one side the various fire fronts, on the other the firefighters who are struggling and managing with a skeleton staff and with too few vehicles, including tankers and ladder trucks.
In June, important fires were recorded in Magliana – with air pollution values also above the limits – in Tor Vergata, Tor Pagnotta, Colli Aniene, Vigne Nuove, Ponte di Nona, Rocca Cencia and Capannelle, without forgetting those in province such as the fires in Civitavecchia, Campagnano Romano, Ardea and Guidonia.
Fire fronts that firefighters are called to face while ensuring the ordinary, supported by civil protection. But the many – too many – activities have already put the body in crisis, because the blanket is short.
There is a shortage of firefighters
“The period of maximum alert has been redetermined until 15 October. At present the firefighters of Rome and its province, however, must face extraordinary forest fire interventions with the staff and ordinary means and equipment because the real strengthening on camp will be implemented from July 1st thanks to the Aib agreement, signed between the firefighters and the Lazio region which will lead to an increase in personnel of around 50 units per day who will work overtime and dos teams in addition to the voluntary associations that provide a important contribution”, explained the general secretary Riccardo Ciofi of the Fns Cisl union of Roma Capitale.
However, these numbers are unfortunately not enough because from 24 June the course for the qualification transition to team leader has been scheduled and will last five weeks.
“In that period we will lose 80 units in service at the Rome command”, added Ciofi and the sum of those arriving and those temporarily leaving is quickly done and is negative: “So the situation becomes dramatic and not even the overtime hours allocated by the department are sufficient to make up for this intense activity”.
In Rome two ladder trucks and one firefighter for every 30 thousand inhabitants
“We need planning”
“We asked for foresight and vision on the part of the actors who signed the agreement, because the strong critical issues encountered in previous years – adds Ciofi – should have taught us that the difficulties of forest fires do not have a start date or an expiry date. We should build a more flexible system, maintaining a fixed and defined system, but also having the possibility of inserting a real upgrade at any time of the year. Unfortunately, the rescue system is collapsing, unable to set up tankers and additional teams to deal with interventions. ordinary and extraordinary”.
Few means
Luca Antonazzo of the Conapo union intervened on this point: “Rome only has one tanker in service in the provincial capital. The staff is always the same and often, despite the 12-hour shifts, they often go into overtime working even 20 or 24 hours queue, with a minimal break. We would need between 200 and 300 more units, and in any case we will be undernumbered. Added to this is the problem of the ladder trucks which are 4 in Rome and the province, of which only one in the city of Rome In this period, beyond the ordinary, there is a surplus due to fires and we are in difficulty.
