LAWN. The fire station in Via Paronese is falling apart and is at risk of eviction. Meanwhile the state continues to pay an annual rent of half a million euros for a dilapidated building. The complaint comes from the independent fire brigade union Conapo.
Here is the text of the complaint.
«The barracks is currently under executive eviction, with the real risk of having to abandon the premises without an alternative logistical solution having been identified. Despite this, the public administration continues to pay rent for the building amounting to around five hundred thousand euros a year, while the hygienic, structural and logistical conditions are now unworthy of a State body. The toilets intended for staff are totally or partially inefficient due to breakdowns and lack of maintenance, making the necessary personal hygiene activities following rescue operations difficult. The external lighting of the maneuvering area is partially non-functional, with consequent risks to the safety of vehicles and operators at night. Automatic gates are subject to continuous breakdowns, causing disruptions and delays in the entry and exit maneuvers of emergency vehicles. Added to all this is an almost total absence of security measures for access, which exposes the staff and the structure to potential dangerous situations, also considering the recent theft of equipment. Even the Operations Room, the beating heart of emergencies, presents problems related to the age and wear of the furnishings and some equipment, forcing operators to work twelve-hour shifts in uncomfortable conditions. The broken elevators have also been preventing people with disabilities from reaching the Command offices for months now. In recent years, very few ordinary maintenance works have been carried out, while extraordinary interventions are almost absent, despite repeated reports and requests from the Command. The local management, although aware of the gravity of the situation, finds itself with its hands tied due to the failure to provide the necessary funds. It is unacceptable that those who risk their lives every day for the safety of citizens have to work in a degraded environment, devoid of the most basic requirements of safety and dignity. We want to underline that the continuation of this neglect will inevitably lead to an aggravation of the critical issues already underway which will make the restoration of the structure both difficult and expensive. Even the canteen service, although functioning, does not respect the contractual parameters, due to continuous supply and packaging problems by the company in charge. Staff, working 12-hour shifts, often find themselves forced to consume meals of inadequate quality compared to the needs of those who carry out an activity with high physical and emotional expense. The judicial police office of the Command needs urgent strengthening, also in light of the entrenchment of organized crime and mafia infiltration in the local economic fabric. More units are needed to support the Public Prosecutor’s Office, since too often the operational staff, in addition to rescue interventions, must also deal with drafting documents and conducting judicial police investigations, making the workload and responsibilities even more onerous. On the vehicles and equipment front, the situation is no better: vehicles have been delivered that are not suitable for urgent technical rescue, such as a platform that does not have the requirements to carry out fire-fighting or personal rescue activities and for this reason certainly cannot replace the very precious and fundamental ladder trucks. The Command also has a logistical support module (base camp made up of tents and toilets to be used in the event of disasters) which, due to disputes with the supplier company, is stopped in the square and unusable, also taking away precious space from the maneuvering and parking areas. Added to this is the inadequate management of the assigned electric cars, which are recharged via ordinary civil sockets, since no infrastructure with suitable charging stations has been set up, with consequent slowness and risk of inefficiency. Conapo di Prato, present last August 15th at the meeting of the National Committee for Public Order and Security, has already delivered a letter of recommendation to the highest officials of the State and the National Corps. Today, the most representative union of the Fire Brigade returns to forcefully ask the Tuscany Regional Directorate and the Ministry of the Interior to intervene urgently to put an end to this situation, guaranteeing the necessary maintenance, the restoration of minimum safety conditions and an in-depth verification of the adequacy of the costs incurred for a headquarters which, despite the enormous public spending, is in critical conditions and potentially risks no longer being able to guarantee adequate operations. Protecting the safety of those who save lives can no longer be postponed.”
