Free firefighting services for villages in Almeria

COUNCILS in the Almanzora Valley are celebrating a provincial agreement to provide free firefighting services to municipalities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants.

Almeria Provincial Council announced that the agreement had been reached at a plenary session and the initiative will provide villages with ways to access the services at no cost to municipal coffers.

Provincial deputy Javier Aureliano Garcia explained that Almeria will be the first Andalucian province to offer free firefighting services to small municipalities and said it was proposed by the president of the provincial council.

To guarantee sufficient staff to cover demand across the Levante, Huercal-Overa, Los Velez and Almanzora areas, the deputy reported, the Levante firefighters’ consortium will be taking on an extra 26 firefighters in the near future.

The news has served to put minds at rest following months of worry after Albox Council decided to discontinue management of the local fire brigade and pass the responsibility back to the provincial council.