The APB and Palma Council revalidate the agreement for fire protection and fire fighting, rescue and public safety for the port of Palma
The new agreement includes a budget of more than 360,000 euros, and a new command vehicle.
Palma
07/03/2022
Further strengthening of cooperation between the Port Authority of the Balearic Islands (APB) and Palma Council, through the signing of an agreement on fire protection and fire fighting, rescue and public safety in the port of Palma. The aim of the agreement is to increase the technical collaboration of the APB and the Bombers I Bomberes de (Palma Fire Brigade) in order to raise safety levels in the port area of Palma and to make the most of the resources and means available.
The president of the APB, Francesc Antich, and the mayor of Palma, José Hila, formalised the new agreement, in a ceremony in which the director of the APB, Jorge Nasarre; the head of the APB’s Safety and Protection Division, Josep Aubareda; the councillor for Public Safety, Joana M. Adrover; the general director of the area, Gloria Nieto and the coordinator of the Fire Department, Àlex Bergas, also took part.
The president of the APB, Francesc Antich, highlighted “the opportunity to benefit from an agreement that has been working very well for over 20 years”, and valued the continuity of the agreement between the institutions to ensure “an optimal level of safety in the port area and optimisation of public resources”.
Furthermore, the mayor of Palma, José Hila, said that the reissue of this collaboration “confirms the good work carried out” between the two administrations, which “has achieved such good results” in the past. Hila stressed that one of the fundamental aspects of this agreement is to carry out training and drills in the event of an emergency, such as “the manoeuvre carried out a few weeks ago” in which corporals and fire-fighters took part in a scenario involving a fire in a gas tank “which became more complicated every minute”. “In the end, this type of collaboration results in a better public service,” he said.
Therefore, the APB will provide the staff of the Palma Fire Brigade with material and a specific training programme for urban, industrial and port emergencies, with a budget of 90,000 euros for the next 4 years. The new agreement also includes a command vehicle for the Palma Fire Brigade, with a budget of approximately 80,000 euros.
Internal Emergency Plan (IEP)
The port of Palma has an Interior Emergency Plan (IEP) drawn up by the APB, which considers the Palma Fire Brigade as an intervention group that provides emergency assistance, extinguishing fires on land and on boats, intervening in civil protection operations, evacuation tasks, land rescue operations and participating in drills, among others.
The first cooperation agreement dates back to 2001. The last one was signed in 2012 and ended on 1 October 2021. The new agreement establishes that the APB will finance training, specific means and a command vehicle for the Palma Fire Brigade, in exchange for the commitment to attend to emergencies occurring in the port, as an integral part of its Internal Emergency Plan, under the direction of the APB.
