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The last fortnight of May will have a 21% increase in combat means compared to last year, with 288 more teams, 1316 operations, 294 vehicles and six aircraft more than in 2018.

The resources to fight fires will be reinforced this year with more operational, vehicles and air assets, the most visible increase in the last fortnight of May, according to the National Operational Directive (DON) approved on Tuesday.

The Directive which the Lusa agency had access to, was approved this Tuesday 2^nd April at the National Commission for Civil Protection and establishes the Special Firefighting Device (DECIR) for 2019.

As happened in 2018, this year’s DECIR is organized and operates “on a permanent basis”, reinforced by the probability of the occurrence of rural fires and the alert of the Integrated Protection and Relief Operations System (SIOPS).

The largest reinforcement of combat resources takes place in the last fortnight of May, which will increase by 21% compared to 2018

According to the DON, the last fortnight of May, with a commitment of level II means, will have 288 more teams, 1316 operations, 294 vehicles and six aerial means than in 2018, counting the device this year with a total of 1761 teams, 7606 operational, 1735 vehicles and 38 air assets.

July, August and September continue to mobilize more

However, July, August and September, considered the most critical period in fires, continue to mobilize the largest number of resources, this year having 11,492 operational, 2653 teams, 2493 vehicles and 60 air assets.

Last year, this level of maximum commitment (denominated by level IV) counted on 10,767 operatives, 2463 teams, 2303 vehicles and 55 aerial means.

The document establishes, for the month of June (level III), a device of 2081 teams, 9038 operational, 2073 vehicles and 60 aerial means. In relation to 2018, June will have another 202 teams, 851 elements, 215 vehicles and 12 aerial means.

In the first half of October, the media commitment is also level III and will be operational 2147 teams, 9279 operational, 1972 vehicles and 60 air assets. At the same time last year, DECIR was composed of 1944 teams, 8352 fighters, 1763 vehicles and 34 aircraft.

The DON also indicates that between 16 and 31 October, the permanent commitment forces and 39 air assets are included, and the number of means determined according to the assessment of the danger and the risk of fire.

Between 1 November and 31 December, where the mobilization of resources is the lowest (level I), the forces of permanent commitment and 17 aircraft will be operational, three of them from the State and 14 of them leased.

Also with level I, the period of 1 January and 14 May counts on the forces of permanent commitment and 14 aerial means. During Level I, the hazard and fire risk assessment will determine the level of additional media commitment.

Fire brigades, GNR Emergency and Protection Unit; Special Firefighters Force and forest sapper brigade teams are part of the permanent firefighting engagement forces.

The DON notes that the means of combating fires planned for this year can be changed “due to the risk of fire predictable”.

The same document also indicates that the National Network of Watch Stations , under the responsibility of the GNR, will be in operation from 7 May to 30 October, with 228 stations operating between 1 July and 15 October and the remaining 72

 

Safe Communities Portugal, Turismo de Portugal and ANPC have combined to produce the following leaflet to protect visitors against rural fires.

It is important all entities involved in tourism are aware of this and inform their clients accordingly.

Please download and study here.

 https://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/SAFE-HOLIDAYS-prevent-and-protect-yourself-from-wildfires.pdf

The minister of Internal Affairs announced on Tuesday the “additional control of the use of arms” so that Portugal continues to be a safe country, considering its limitation is an “essential contribution” in the revision of the law that is currently under way.

“More weapons are no longer security, we need additional control of the use of weapons because we want to continue to be a safe country in this matter,” said Eduardo Cabrita at the signing ceremony of a protocol on weapons and explosives, signed between the Security Police and the Spanish Civil Guard.

“The weapons law that is currently under review by the Assembly of the Republic is an essential contribution that we hope will be approved by the end of this legislative session,” said Eduardo Cabrita.

The minister stressed that the revision of the current law establishes mechanisms of effectiveness in the control of the use of weapons and explosives, in the demands of their destruction and, above all, in limiting the weapons that are available to citizens.

The Government’s draft law transposes a directive of the European Union and contributes to the adoption of prevention and control mechanisms in order to ensure that firearms holders meet the physical and psychological conditions for “use and possession”, in addition to limit the number of weapons that each person can have at home.

“The comparative experiences in several continents clearly demonstrates that the European solution, the Portuguese view of this subject is correct and has contributed to the very positive result in matters of violent and serious crime,” he said.

The revision of the weapons law, which is currently being discussed in the Assembly of the Republic after having been approved last September in the Council of Ministers, deserved the challenge of the National Confederation of Portuguese Hunters and gunsmiths for the restrictions imposed.

At the ceremony, the Minister of Home Affairs highlighted the work done by PSP in the area of ​​weapons and explosives, reporting that it went from 21,000 weapons destroyed in 2015 to 36,500 in 2018. There was a 36% increase in seizures of arms in 2018 and a 28% increase in the seizure of explosives.

“This is a matter that contributed decisively to the many positive results” of violent and serious crime, which fell 8.6% last year compared to 2017, said Eduardo Cabrita.

The Minister of Internal Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, said that from April onwards there will be a reinforcement of the number of inspectors of the Foreigners and Borders Service at the airports of Lisbon, Faro and Funchal as part of the contingency plan for leaving the Union of the United Kingdom European Union.

In the European Affairs Committee at the Parliament, the Minister stressed that Lisbon will have 22 more inspectors, while the reinforcement in Faro will be ten new elements. This trend has continued to increase, after two groups of 45 inspectors took office in 2018 and 70 more elements are expected to enter 2019 through an internal competition.

By June another 100 inspectors will also have to enter, as the external competition opened in 2017 is already in the selection phase. The Minister also added that 116 technical assistants were being recruited and 16 were in the IT area.

Eduardo Cabrita also said that the embassy of Portugal and the consulates in the United Kingdom will be reinforced by the placement of four officials: “The SEF will put a liaison officer at the embassy in London and three officials in the documentary area.”

British tourists will continue to be able to enter Portuguese airports through the Automatic Identification of Identified Passengers system.

A 26-year-old man, considered violent and wanted by the German authorities, was detained by the SEF at Porto airport.

The arrest was followed by a European arrest warrant for extradition issued by Germany.

The individual is indicted in that country for the crimes of robbery and fraud of telecommunications companies.

“He was arrested at Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport this morning and present to the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the Oporto Court of Appeal. The court applied the preventive custody measure in order to await possible extradition,” the SEF said in a statement

Following the worsening of the predicted meteorological conditions for the coming days, namely the rise in temperature, with levels ​​above normal for this time of year, the reduction of relative humidity and the occurrence of moderate and strong winds, there will be an increase of the risk of fire between Saturday and Monday, to high and very high levels, in several districts.

Considering the operational situation, the ANPC determined the reinforcement and pre-positioning of the Special Firefighting Force in:  Guimarães, Trancoso, Proença-a-Nova, Almeirim, Portale, Montijo and Estremoz;

There will also be a reinforcement and prepositioning of GNR resources with an Extended Attack Company  in Vila Real and Viseu, as well as a terrestrial team with ITA capacity for patrol in all air centres.

 

On 22^nd March at 2100 hrs the National Civil Protection Authority (ANPC) sent a joint operational force with search, rescue, protection and rescue capacity in complex emergency situations to Mozambique.

This force is made up of operatives of the Special Firefighters Force (10 elements), Firefighters Volunteers of several corporations of the district of Santarém (19 elements), National Republican Guard (18 elements) and National Institute of Medical Emergency (1 element) , who will support the Mozambican authorities in the relief operations for the victims of the cyclone Idai that has lashed out at the country.

This operation, coordinated by ANPC, departed on a commercial plane from AT1 (Figo Maduro military airport). Aboard is diverse medical material of support to the Hospital of Beira. These elements will join the advanced multidisciplinary civil protection team that was sent on March 21^st.

National support comes as a result of the request for international assistance to support the relief operations presented by the Mozambican authorities under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

The Judicial Police, through the Criminal Investigation Department of Aveiro, have identified and detained an individual aged 40 for aggravated computer crime, illegitimate access, possession and sale of protected equipment, copyright infringement and tax fraud, committed through the “cardharing” method.

The detainee maintained an unlawful structure for the provision of the protected TV services, recruiting customers, selling specially tampered equipment to receive the coded signal, making the access available and receiving the agreed payments. For this purpose the structure comprised servers installed outside the national territory in Germany and Italy.

With this procedure, about four hundred customers illegitimately had access to the paid TV signal without the operators receiving the price due, to the detriment of these and the Public Treasury for the non-settlement of the corresponding tax revenues.

In the course of the searches carried out, relevant evidence was detected, notably a computer system dedicated to the control of the accesses made by the “customers” to the servers dedicated to “Cardsharing” and about three dozen “set-top-boxes”,  of receiving the satellite signal, tampered with to provide access to the protected signal.

The detainee was present to the Judicial Authorities, in the Region of Aveiro, for first judicial interrogation and determination of the appropriate measures of coercion.

Portugal’s Sílvia Nunes was awarded the UK Care Awards in the category of best nurse for innovation, creativity and attention at work, the organizers announced today.

“Silvia represents the best of nursing in a home environment. She is innovative, creative, and passionate and does everything for the residents, families, and her team. Promoting high quality nursing within their team is a prime example, “Care England said.

National awards were awarded at a ceremony on Friday with more than a thousand nursing and health care professionals in Birmingham who had been winners in their respective regions.

“I did not want to believe when I heard my name, but I felt a huge pride. This award recognizes all the work that I have been developing as a nurse since I arrived in England,” she told Lusa news agency.

The 33-year-old Portuguese nurse from Vila do Conte arrived in the UK in 2014 to look for work in her area because she could not find a job as a nurse in Portugal.

In spite of the initial difficulties with the English language, at the end of about a year the clinical director was promoted and in September of 2016 the assistant director of the home Ford Place, specialized in palliative care.

Last year he was a non-winning finalist for the second consecutive year of the National Care Awards, also from the UK

 

More than 500 people were detained by the PSP during the “Carnival in Security 2019” operation, which ended on Tuesday and led to the seizure of more than 2,800 pyrotechnic articles.

According to the final figures of the operation, 501 people were arrested by the PSP, 165 of them for driving under an excess of alcohol, 94 for lack of driving license, 80 for drug trafficking and 78 for through enforcement of arrest warrants.

In a statement, PSP also indicates that during the operation, which ran from 7 am on February 26 to 24 hours on Tuesday, they arrested 19 people for theft, 13 for disobedience and four for assaults at police.

The operation “Carnival in Security 2019” aimed to reduce risk behaviour, strengthen road safety and prevent and suppress the illicit marketing of pyrotechnic articles.

According to the PSP statement, 16 firearms, eight blank weapons, 2841 pyrotechnic articles and 594 rounds of ammunition of various calibre were seized , as well as 2336 doses of various types of drugs.

The PSP identified 829 people for various reasons, 93 of them for drug use.

In the eight days of the operation, 699 road surveillance operations were carried out, 51 establishments were monitored in the context of private security activity and 234 other enforcement actions were undertaken, mostly in the area of ​​prevention of the sale of pyrotechnic articles and weapons / explosives.

In the field of road safety, 27,132 vehicles were inspected and 6092 road traffic violations were registered and assessed. In addition, 881 vehicles were detected for speeding, resulting in 169 minor, 661 serious and 61 very serious traffic offenses.

6,564 drivers were also tested at the blood alcohol level, and 133 were charged for having a higher rate than the legal minimum of 1.2g/l.

During the eight days of the operation “Carnival in Security 2019” PSP mobilized 7104 police, 1876 vehicles and 1689 other equipment.