Venice - "By next year, any staffing shortages for the Fire Brigade will be addressed by filling positions advertised for the Venice office under the 'Internal selection procedure for the filling of 45 positions for access to the role of engine room crew of the National Corps, based on qualifications and successful completion of a professional training course for the acquisition of a deck nautical license.'"
Undersecretary of the Interior, Emanuele Prisco, made this statement in response to questions from Ettore Rosato (Azione) regarding various issues facing the Venice Fire Department. Specifically, the parliamentarian asked about staffing, the "restoration of vessels currently idled," and the allocation of "extraordinary resources, opening a dedicated budget for the lagoon fire department, given the unique and fragile nature of the Venetian context."
A question also focused on risk and hardship compensation for the lagoon fire service, and whether a regulatory amendment is being considered to establish its amount and stability over time.
Regarding the watercraft used in the Venice lagoon, Prisco explained that the rescue service is carried out with fast boats, the so-called APL (Autopompe lagunari): these are prototypes, "intentionally open" to be able to cross the city's bridges in all tidal conditions, "and must be easily maneuverable within the city's narrowest canals."
Rosato pointed out that these vehicles “expose operators to extreme weather conditions including strong winds, rain, rough seas, freezing temperatures, and intense heat without adequate protective equipment.”
There is no mass production of APLs, and their use is limited to the Venice lagoon. Given the unique characteristics of its territory, "to deal with breakdowns and damage (resulting in periods of outage due to collisions with shallow waters, submerged objects, banks, and other causes)," the Venice office has a number of vessels "more than double the minimum operational configuration, ensuring adequate maintenance rotation and adequate backup in the event of a breakdown. Therefore, APL outages are planned and necessary to perform routine and extraordinary maintenance," Prisco added.
The current fleet consists of eight APLs, two motorboats, and a raft. For Venice, a search is underway for "suitable premises" to house the equipment "with a view to speeding up and simplifying manual transport," and the purchase of "alpine and river caving harnesses" is underway to compensate for the inability to use ladder trucks.
Finally, risk and hardship allowances for the lagoon fire service. "Precisely to provide financial compensation to personnel assigned to the specific lagoon service, since 2020, the annual national supplementary agreements regarding the distribution of management savings from the Administration Fund have provided for specific compensation for personnel not belonging to specialized roles who have performed the function of operating watercraft for which a boating license is required," states Prisco's response, seen by 'Dire'.
As for the possibility of a specific additional emolument, this will require negotiations with the unions, "but the administration reserves the right to include this specific provision in the new agreement."
Naples – A raging fire ravaged a pizzeria in the Secondigliano neighborhood last night, forcing 21 residents to evacuate. Two adjacent apartments were declared uninhabitable by the Fire Department due to structural damage. The Municipality's intervention in the area. The Councilor for Welfare of the City of Naples, Chiara Marciani, announced in a statement the…
The search for the 66-year-old man who disappeared yesterday afternoon from Castelcivita, in the Salerno area, ended in tragic fashion. His body was found this morning around 7:30 a.m. in the ford of the Calore River, where it was located by firefighters working alongside the local Carabinieri station.
The man had left a local nursing home yesterday afternoon without returning. His family, concerned about his failure to return, raised the alarm and also launched a public appeal for assistance in the search. Rescue teams scoured the area throughout the evening and into the night, until they found his body in the river.
Casoria's housing crisis continues. Following the collapse of the building on Via Cavour, new signs of structural instability have forced the evacuation of two other buildings on Corso Umberto I, forcing dozens of people from their homes. The situation was the focus of an update meeting at the Prefecture of Naples, attended by Mayor Raffaele Bene, Regional Councilor for Civil Protection Fiorella Zabatta, and representatives of the fire department, law enforcement, Civil Protection, and the Naples 2 North Local Health Authority.
The mayor explained that some of the evacuated families have been relocated to the same hotels already designated for the displaced people on Via Cavour. Meanwhile, firefighters are preparing to intervene in the collapsed building to remove the unsafe elements still hanging. This delicate operation, if it goes as planned, could allow several residents from the surrounding areas to finally return to their homes.
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Comments (1)
It's important that the firefighters in Venice have the support they need to operate safely, but I wonder if the resources are actually arriving and how everything will be managed for the boats and weather conditions.