The Department of Civil Protection will send a contingent of officers to Greece to help their Greek colleagues fight the fires that, like these summer times, rule the woods in various areas in that country. This was announced in a news conference by the Minister for the Interior, Security and Work Byron Camilleri, who explained that this will be the fourth international operation in two years by the Department of Civil Protection.
Currently half of Greece is on alert due to the possibility of fires caused by a strong heat wave, drought and lack of water. Next Monday, the Department of Civil Protection will send the first contingent of twenty officers to Patras in Greece so that at the end of July they will be replaced by another contingent of twenty officers who will take their place. The second contingent will return to Malta in mid-August. Two volunteers from non-governmental organizations will also go with them, one from the Emergency Fire and Rescue Unit and another from the St John’s Rescue Corps.
The Department of Civil Protection has already sent by sea several craft that will be used by the Maltese firefighters in Greece.
In the news conference, Minister Camilleri said that in recent years in the Department of Civil Protection an unprecedented investment has been made both in the tools, in the training and the conditions of the workers, which are making it possible that it is not only the Civil Protection continues to protect and carry out rescue operations in our country, but also even beyond our shores.
“From a department armed with second-hand equipment, we have turned it into one of the most efficient and professional departments that gives Maltese people peace of mind. This was done thanks to the strong investment that the government made not only on the equipment and training of the workers but also on the workers themselves who are now enjoying much better conditions and wages than they ever had,” said the Minister Camilleri.
He said that this change was reflected in the rescue and rescue operations that the Maltese Civil Protection carried out over the last year both in Greece, Turkey and even in Libya. Thus these tasks show that Malta is capable of being in solidarity with neighboring peoples in a time of crisis while the Maltese workers gain real experiences far more useful than the training.
For his part, the Director General of Civil Protection Peter Paul Coleiro said that the department will still have enough resources locally to provide a service locally thanks to the investment made by the government. He appealed to the Maltese public to be more aware in these months about the danger of fires in dry areas in the countryside.
Photo: MHAL
