Fire management spending 25% below forecast – report
In the 2020-2024 period, expenditure totalled €2.427 billion, 25% lower (-€808 million) than forecast (€3.235 billion) in the planning instruments.
Expenditure on the Integrated Rural Fire Management System (SGIFR) between 2020 and 2024 is 25% lower than expected, but the resources involved have never been higher, it was announced on Wednesday.
According to a report by the Agency for the Integrated Management of Rural Fires (AGIF), published today and to which Lusa had access, “in the 2020-2024 period, expenditure on the SGIFR totalled €2.427 billion, 25% lower (-€808 million) than forecast (€3.235 billion) in the planning instruments”, which include the National Plan for the Integrated Management of Rural Fires (PNGIFR) and the National Action Programme (NAP).
According to the report, which includes figures from 2017, 21% of the expenditure refers to incentives to “support agriculture in vulnerable territories and livestock production linked to fuel management”, 16% to the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) and Volunteer Firefighters Associations, 16% to reinforce Air Force resources, 15% to GNR actions of “inspection, surveillance, investigation and suppression” of incidents and 15% to the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests.
In the case of the ANEPC, there has been a 58% increase in human resources since 2017 and a 62% increase in vehicles over the same period, according to the report.
In total, expenditure for the civil protection authority in 2024 “increased by 186% compared to 2017, from around €36 million to €103 million”.
Regarding the Humanitarian Associations of Volunteer Firefighters and the military aerial device, the number of figures has doubled since 2017.
In the case of the GNR, there was a “90% increase in 2024, compared to 2017 (from €48 million to €91 million)”, the document also states.
AGIF was created in 2018 to “accelerate the transition to integrated rural fire management” and is “the organisation responsible for the planning, strategic coordination and evaluation of the SGIFR”.
The funds accounted for by AGIF are the result of expenditure by the various ministries and state services over the period in question.
