They denounce the lack of PPE replacement suits for the Madrid Firefighters after the extinguishing of the fire in a warehouse in Parla

The Firefighters Union, the majority in the group and federated in CSIT Unión Profesional, has denounced the “operational reduction” of the Fire Department of the Community of Madrid due to the “lack of replacement suits”, after the contamination of its protective equipment individual (EPI) during a fire in a recycling warehouse in Parla that occurred yesterday Thursday.

The professionals, after intervening in the accident and after check the contamination of their suits, they requested their replacementin compliance with current health and safety measures in the workplace.

However, the response from the Las Rozas central warehouse was give them other torn suits, in poor condition, without the proper size and fewer units than necessaryaccording to the union. The firefighters refused to accept said PPE, given the “obvious risk involved in using deteriorated material, in the event of another possible intervention, immediately becoming inoperative.”

CSIT, in compliance with the Occupational Risk Prevention Law, “unconditionally” supported the decision adopted by the workers. “The situation became something surreal, since the officer responsible for the guard proposed to the command that the firefighters take the suits of other colleagues who were not on guard, thus demonstrating a total ignorance of the current legality regarding ORP matterssince the PPE are for exclusive and individual use,” they reported.

Once the professionals were inoperative, the Guard Headquarters made the decision to refer the Firefighters to other Parks to carry out station work, “seriously and consciously reducing the presence of operational troops in the parks and affected municipalities”.

For all these reasons, the union points out that the events that occurred in the guard yesterday reveal the situation of “misery” suffered by the public Fire Service due to the “obvious lack of investment” in it. Firefighters have been waiting for more than four years for the renewal of their suits, “something that never comes”, despite the fact that the regional government has announced it on numerous occasions.

The Firefighters Union considers that the accumulated delay in the arrival of the new PPE is “the consequence of the lack of capacity and technical level of those responsible for the area of ​​material resources in recent years.” This lack of competence in their functions has caused the specifications to not be issued in a timely manner,” they conclude in a statement.

The version of the Community of Madrid

In response, sources from the Ministry of Environment and Interior consulted by Europa Press have indicated that after an intervention in the Parla warehouse, five firefighters requested to replace their intervention suit and those that were available were rejected because they did not fit their size.

For this reason, they were incorporated into other service positions at the station in different parks, incorporating another five properly equipped firefighters into the operational service. “In this way, operation was not lost in any casewith a total staff of 221 firefighters in the 21 parks of the Community of Madrid, above the daily minimums required,” they point out.

On the other hand, the same sources indicate that last November the contract for the supply of new intervention suits (U2) for Fire Department personnel was awarded, the receipt of which is expected by the end of this year 2025 with a total figure of 1,800 suits.

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