On Wednesday, Governor Maximiliano Pullaro led the delivery of new equipment to the province's Volunteer Firefighters, intended for fighting forest fires. This is a significant investment that reaches a total of 37 associations distributed throughout the territory of Santa Fe.
The ceremony took place in Plaza 25 de Mayo, where Pullaro began by saying: "Every inhabitant of the invincible province of Santa Fe is proud to say that we have the best trained and best equipped volunteer firefighters in the Argentine Republic."
"We are strongly committed to ensuring that they have the equipment they need and deserve to be able to assist in different areas and have the peace of mind that they will also arrive home safe and sound after carrying out the solidarity and humanitarian work that they do on a permanent basis," he added.
In addition, the governor stressed: "We are convinced that every resource that the government of the province of Santa Fe provides to the firefighter associations or fire stations we have in the province of Santa Fe is an investment that has a very important impact on each of the communities."
Airplane and helicopter
Pullaro emphasised the investment being made by the provincial government "to stay ahead of what we are seeing happening in other countries and provinces, where unfortunately entire hectares are being destroyed by forest fires, which also put the lives of people in different localities at risk".
That is why he said that "for the first time in history, the province has acquired a water bomber aircraft, which was registered yesterday and is now operational. It can carry up to 3,000 litres of water at the base, airport or aerodromes. And in February, pontoons will arrive from the United States for this same aircraft, which means that it can load directly without having to land, flying low over the river".
"And from February, we will also have the government helicopter, which we have recommissioned and equipped, so that if we have another incident like the ones we had in previous years, we will have, in addition to the 3,000 litres carried by the water bomber, 500 litres carried by the helicopter's bucket".
Commitment
The Secretary of Civil Protection and Risk Management, Marco Escajadillo, highlighted the provincial government's commitment to volunteer firefighters so that "in addition to training and education, they have the best equipment, internationally certified, which gives us peace of mind and assurance that when they are working in a forest fire situation, they are doing so in the best possible way".
Likewise, the president of the Santa Fe Federation of Volunteer Firefighters Associations, Raúl Ponisio, praised "the commitment that this government has made to the Federation, a commitment to joint work and interaction between the parties, which is beginning to yield results".
Attendance
The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Government and Public Innovation, Fabián Bastia; the Minister of Equality and Human Development, Victoria Tejeda; the Secretary of Biodiversity of the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Alejandro Luciani; the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Clara García; the provincial senator for the department of La Capital, Julio "Paco" Garibaldi; the President of the Municipal Council, Sergio Basile, among other authorities.
Equipment
The new equipment was purchased through the province's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, with funds from the French Development Agency. It includes 12 modules (called Combate 500, which include a motor pump and a capacity of 500 litres) for forest fires of 500 litres; 8 motor pumps; 30 chainsaws; 16 personal protectors for chainsaws; 20 blowers; 150 one-inch hoses; 100 one-and-a-half-inch hoses; 5 13 KVA generators; 3 brush cutters; 150 helmets; 150 pairs of boots; 150 jackets; 150 trousers; 150 shirts and 150 pairs of gloves.
This equipment completes the strengthening of operational capabilities. The first stage took place in October, when 22 trucks (12 for firefighting) and equipment for firefighters were added. The total investment amounts to $2.5 billion.
