Alicante Firefighters Report Leaks in Rapid Intervention Truck

Alicante Firefighters Platform continues to raise concerns over the lack of maintenance of equipment used daily by the Fire Prevention, Extinction, and Rescue Service (Speis). On this occasion, the officers have addressed a letter to the Occupational Risk Prevention Service of Alicante City Council regarding a fault in one of the trucks (V10) at the provisional station on Italia Street.

According to the firefighters, on December 13, it was already reported "through the official channel" in the "daily updates" section that this vehicle had a large leak when pressurized. Additionally, the notification was also sent by email on February 28 to Speis officers. This defect prevents the use of this vehicle in fires in buildings with dry risers, in high-rise buildings in commercial areas, or in underground garages.

Firefighters report that as of April 11, it still hasn't been repaired and is used "daily in all shifts as the first intervention vehicle at the provisional station on Italia Street." They explain that it is usually the first to arrive at the scene until the support vehicle from Indalecio Prieto Station arrives. Therefore, they demand the repair, as the high-rise buildings in Alicante are precisely under the coverage of this station.

"The use of this vehicle with this fault, in the event of a fire where any of the previously mentioned Procedures of Action must be applied, places the service in a high-risk situation of severe inefficacy in the intervention, with unpredictable consequences for the building's occupants and the emergency responders," they stated in this letter.

The platform insists that on April 5, this vehicle had to be used in two cases. They explain that if the fire had been of great intensity, it would not have been possible to apply any of the protocols due to the pump's fault, "putting citizens and the Speis members themselves at risk," they affirm.