Lisbon (or "Lisboa" in Portuguese) is the capitol city of Portugal. Within the 84 square kilometer / 40 square mile area of the city live close to one million people.
"Fire and rescue service" is provided to the city, on a fully professional basis, by the "Regimento de Sapadores Bombeiros de Lisboa" - RSB.
This semi-militarized force of 1,200 career/fulltime personnel is funded by the city. It operates under control of a fire chief who is an externally-appointed, college-trained, Army or civilian engineer, nominated by the Municipality and appointed at Central Government level.
STATIONS
Deployment:
5 battalions HQs + 5 battalion satelite stations + 1 airport station + 1 station at the EXPO 98 complex
(1 battalion HQ will typically operate 6 to 10 vehicles; 1 satelite will house 2 to 5 rigs)
Station locations:
RSB HQ - Avenue D Carlos I, between the Parliament Building and the Tagus River below the Bairro Alto area
Unit 1 Central Station - at RSB HQ
Unit 1 Satellite Station - Largo Jardim do Regedor, nearby Av. Liberdade ,at the Restauradores Metro Stop
Unit 2 Central Station - Rua Filinto Elísio, near the Instituto Superior Agronomia (Agricultural College)
Unit 2 Satellite Station - in the Monsanto Florestal Park, at Avenida Tenente Martins by Cruz das Oliveiras crossroad
Unit 3 Central Station - Avenida do Rio Janeiro, at Avenida do Brazil near the Alvalade Metro Stop
Unit 3 Satellite Station - Estrada de Benfica, at Avenida Gomes Pereira near the Colegio Militar Metro Stop
Unit 4 Central Station - Largo da Graça, near the Panteão and the St.Vicente churches,atop the hill
Unit 4 Satellite Station - Avenida Defensores de Chaves, at Avenida Casal Ribeiro near the Saldanha Metro Stop
Unit 5 Central Station - Rua Dr Jose Espirito Santo , near the Chelas Metro Stop
Unit 5 Satellite Station - Avenida de Berlim, by the northbound A1 Highway, next to the Lisbon International Airport
International Airport Station, inside airport premises
EXPO 98 Station, inside premises, at the North Entrance
RANKS OF PERSONNEL
Command:
Chief : an externally-appointed engineer
1st Deputy Chief (Operations) : an externally-appointed engineer
2nd Deputy Chief (Technical Services) : an externally-appointed engineer
Career Personnel:
Chefe-Ajudante - is in charge of a staff function at HQ - is on call to command large incidents
Chefe de 1rst Classe - is the commanding officer of a Battalion - will attend to (and take over at) intermediate level incidents
Chefe de 2nd Classe - leads a shift within a Battalion - responds to all significant incidents in the Battalion when on duty
Sub-chefe Ajudante - similar duties to the Chefe de 2nd Classe
Sub-Chefe - leads a shift at a satellite station - will respond to local calls in the first due medium pumper
Cabo - is the ranking person in any rig if not overranked - also leads a crew responding to minor incidents
Sapador - firefighter
Recruta - probationary firefighter
HELMETS
Black helmets are worn
by Sub-chefes, cabos, sapadors, and recrutas - all other staff wear white helmets.
STAFF
The RSB utilizes - 6 Chefe-Ajudante + 10 Chefe de 1rst Classe + 36 Chefe de 2nd Classe + 24 Sub-chefe Ajudante + 90 Sub-Chefe + 210 Cabo + 650 Sapador.
VEHICLES OF THE RSB (1998)
6 light pumpers + 2 four wheel drive (FWD) light pumpers + 14 medium pumpers + 2 FWD medium pumpers + 9 heavy tankers + 10 aerial ladders (30 meters) + 2 aerial platforms + 3 special extinguishing agent units + 2 medium rescues + 2 water rescue trucks + 1 HAZMAT unit + 1 building collapse unit + 1 lighting unit + 2 mechanical shovels on wheels + 1 mobile command post + 6 mobile winch/cranes + 12 light personnel carriers/vans + 1 advanced life support ambulance + 4 basic ambulances + 17 chief officer's cars and vans + 30 service/support/administration vehicles + 5 trailers (high expansion foam/compressed air/boats)
RSB OPERATIONAL STATISTICS FOR 1997
499 structure fires + 727 open-air fires + 211 explosions or car fires + 944 flood rescues or flood operations + 3559 water or gas leaks + 18 boat/river incidents + 555 emergency ambulance calls + 1215 non-emergency ambulance calls + 3280 minor street or building incidents + 3643 opening of house doors + 398 animal rescues or apprehensions + 330 malicious or otherwise false alarms with actual turn-outs
BACK-UP
RSB fire and rescue operations are permanently backed-up by 7 privately operated benevolent auxiliary "Volunteer Fire Associations", operating an equal number of "Independent Batallions" with a total manning of +/-500 (non paid but duly trained volunteers) and operating about 40 fire and rescue fully equipped rigs. (see a special entry on this).