Volunteer firefighters complain about low salaries and lack of resources to fight fires. They forwarded the complaint to the Minister of Internal Affairs during a meeting in the north of the country.
These are old complaints that grow with each passing year. The financial situation of firefighters in Portugal, particularly volunteers and humanitarian associations, is reported to be precarious with low pay.
In addition to that, the lack of resources is also one of the main demands and will mark another season of fires.
For this year, Government announced a budget increase in the Special Device for Fighting Rural Fires to around 50 million euros, which includes an increase in daily compensation for volunteers.
That means that pass to receive 85 euros for every 24 hours of work nine more euros than last year. An increase that for firefighters continues to be insufficient.
The Minister of Internal Administration was this Monday in Vila do Conde in the fifth round of meetings with firefighters.
SIC knows that the minister listened to and recorded the firefighters’ difficulties but did not want to make any statements to the media.
