The Conapo-Usb Vvf trade union organizations in the Public Rescue, Civil Defense and Fire Brigade sectors express doubts after the implementation of the Aib 2024 (Forest Firefighting) device which started last June 24th and will end, barring adverse climate and weather, next September 13, 2024.
“It should be noted that, currently, the Fire Brigade of Syracuse at this particular moment, in the middle of the summer season – explain the unions in a joint note -, finds itself with a situation of emergency vehicles in serious difficulty due to late management of the dedicated sector and without very precise planning for the current season of forest and brush fires.
Since April, the trade unions have asked to know the situation of the vehicles available for the CNVVF-Sicily Region agreement, finding themselves with vehicles defined as “a pump truck, a country vehicle, an off-road vehicle without a fire prevention module are not suitable and do not meet the requirements of the same agreement. It is important to highlight that the additional forestry team, part of the provincial rescue device of the Syracuse Fire Brigade Command, covers an ordinary daily situation only from 8 am to 8 pm of interventions for forest fires and urban-rural interface.”
In the situation in which the Sicilian Fire Brigade Regional Directorate and the Sicilian Civil Protection Department request the doubling of shifts and teams, the unions denounce a situation bordering on the paradoxical, namely that of having more personnel than due to chronic shortage of vehicles would be forced to remain on the ground due to the fact that we do not currently have a sufficient number of APS and Campagnole rescue vehicles with fire-fighting modules.
“This situation – continues the note – it was also represented to the Prefect of Syracuse. As highlighted above, we are seriously concerned about those “red flag” days for the response that the Syracuse Fire Brigade Command can and must give to the population. It is important to underline that the citizen communicates the first request for help to the single number 112 and therefore to the Fire Brigade who must give immediate responses in conditions of particular danger in which citizens find themselves. We therefore believe to highlight that the device implemented by the Sicily Region through the Department of Civil Protection which provides for what is set out in the program of the agreement, the Fire Brigade is a primary component due to its widespread presence in the territory and response capacity but must be supported by other actors and by the structure itself that deploys vehicles and extraordinary resources. Let’s reiterate – they conclude – that currently in Sicily as in the rest of Italy there is a shortage of Fire Brigade personnel due to a short-sighted and unplanned management of the qualification passage competitions, it is noted that throughout the island for the month of June July, for 5 weeks 144 units will be missing with serious suffering due to urgent technical assistance.”
