Exhausting shifts, reduced staffing and a daily life complicated by long journeys to carry out interventions: i Sardinia firefighters they join their colleagues from all over Italy in denouncing a situation that they define as dramatic and, on the island, even worse than other situations. A national dispute therefore, which however finds fertile ground in the regional context: “Unfortunately, at the moment, the Region has not yet defined the firefighting campaign in the aspects that concern the activities of the Fire Brigade – warns the FP Cgil – while the fires have been going on since April and in all the commands in Sardinia there is an absence of or totally obsolete equipment”.
The alarm was raised by the Regional Fire Brigade Coordination of the FP Cgil led by Marcello Cardia who, together with the national coordinator Mauro Giulianellaclarifies the framework in which workers are forced to operate. “Here the situation is amplified – explains Cardia – because the distance from the peninsula delays the contribution of teams from other regions in case of emergency, then there is the difficult road access and the distance between the locations, which forces long marathons to reach the intervention sites and risks having repercussions on the rescue service”. And the staff? “Today we are around 1250. In the operational sector, we are 200 units short in terms of team leader and department head activities, at least 150 firefighters are missing, the administrative, accounting and technical staff is 80% lacking and even among the management staff we find a fair undersizing”. At a national level, according to coordinator Giulianella, there are 4,000 the operational ones and 2500 administrative ones less.
The current climate phase, the consequences of the increasingly extreme atmospheric phenomena,
the start of firefighting campaign forestry, rural and aquatic garrison services: “The shifts are unsustainable especially in the summer period – adds Cardia – you are called back to extraordinary duty without Inail insurance against accidents at work and professional diseases”.
If we look to the future the picture worsens, therefore the FP asks for immediate intervention: “Otherwise, considering the early retirements, in 2030 the staffing of the Fire Brigade will be so limited that it will not be able to guarantee activity throughout the entire territory”. In short, the sector is truly on the verge of a general mobilization: “We have been denouncing for years, unheard, the critical issues linked to urgent technical assistance and excessive workloads – conclude the FP coordinators also recalling that the contract has now expired – yet, with great responsibility the women and men of the fire brigade continue to carry out their work with dedication”. The message is clear: if there is no sign of change, the response will be the fight, without excluding any protest initiative.
