Shortage of Fire Brigades in Sardinia – «We need to find an immediate solution to the increasingly worrying shortage of personnel at the Fire Brigade offices: there is a lack of drivers, a lack of young firefighters and a lack of team leaders» says Pietro Nurra, regional secretary of Conapo, the independent union of firefighters fire among the most representative for members.
«We witness on a daily basis, in almost all the Commands in Sardinia, the reduction of the rescue system. The Fire Brigade needs new hires to fill the current shortage and the one that is being further created following the numerous retirements and the solution certainly cannot be the use of overtime, which has now become customary to guarantee public assistance”.
The complaint comes following the major fire which devastated the landscape in the Sarroch countryside, and which raised the problem of the forces that the emergency response system can deploy in the event of an emergency. The topic of personnel is therefore back in the news: «In Sardinia there are at least 250 firefighters missing»: declares Pietro Nurra.
«The blanket is short – he says -. To ensure that due assistance is provided to the population, the Provincial Commanders have always supported requests for new personnel from ministerial leaders, but the problems exist and are currently at a standstill. It’s not just a problem of number, but also of demographics: «The average age of the staff is over 52 years. Departure leaders, who carry out operational service, do so until they are 60 years old.
Unlike other bodies, we do not have an organization that allows, once an age limit has been reached, to be re-employed in other non-operational activities”. The turnover is clearly insufficient to rebalance staff retirements, as between 2024 and 2025 there will be a peak in retirements and hiring is done slowly, we need an increase in the number of units to be started on courses as we are clearly behind given that the training period of a firefighter lasts 9 months.
Let’s start from the Cagliari Command (metropolitan city) in addition to the staff shortages, it is now essential to establish a headquarters for better territorial coverage (Pula) already denounced by the trade unions. and for which we call on local institutions to support this claim also in light of the latest event that occurred in that area, it requires an upgrade of the category of the Carbonia headquarters to SD4. On Iglesias the actual units for the upgrading of the headquarters to SD5 are still missing ( approximately 12 units) and throughout the Command 47 units will retire in the current year.
Continuing with Sassari: the Command, in addition to significant staff shortages (in particular team leader personnel), is undersized both in terms of size and the peculiarities of the territory. We have one of the largest provinces in Italy. There are two airports and the area is full of port settlements, from Porto Torres to Olbia and also the entire navy from Golfo Aranci to Alghero” At present, over 50 qualified units and the necessary units of around 20 brigades are missing, Olbia is still missing the assignment of the actual units of the headquarters upgrade to SD5 (around 12 units) and over the course of the year to aggravate the situation at the Command there will be around 15 retirements.
The Nuoro Command suffers from a shortage of qualified people of around 15 units and a dramatic shortage of technical logistics management staff (staff who contribute to the administrative activities of the command) which in some cases now borders on around 80% of the shortages in particular sectors.
Firefighter is a generic definition: within the body there are also specializations. «The diving unit also has staff shortages: in the Sassari unit there are 18-20 units, in the Cagliari unit at least a dozen». From the water to the sky: «Flight department: according to the staffing plan there should be 12 pilots, instead there are seven with staffing shortages also among the technical and air rescue personnel and here too some upcoming retirements». As well as shortages of around 20% afflicts nautical personnel.
Even in Oristano, around 25 qualified units and around 15 VF units would be needed.”
How easily understandable the staff bends over backwards to guarantee the population the right standard of relief, but what would have happened if in Olbia during the fire at the dealership “a serious accident or fire had occurred, for example, at the hospital? In other situations there is a different inter-provincial support, and everything is aggravated by the insular factor, for reinforcements from the continent it takes at least 24/36 hours to have additional forces. but Sardinia has to deal with small numbers, with large distances and a road network that has limits. A concomitance of multiple interventions does not allow coverage with adequate timing.
There is a need for a stance on the part of politicians at all levels so that Sardinia is recognized as having adequate personnel for territorial needs, aggravated by its insularity. Nurra concludes
Tags: Shortage firefighters Sardinia units missing hiring needed
