“We are endowed with the capacity to intervene and means [of a kind] we have never had before,” the premier said at a ceremony to mark the delivery of four new fire engines to the corporations of Machico, Ribeira Brava and Ponta do Sol, Calheta and Câmara de Lobos.


Albuquerque said that the vehicles represented an investment in the order of €800,000 and stressed that the “issue of civil protection is increasingly important” for Madeira because of climate change.


He described public investment in prevention and fire-fighting as “imperative”, stressing that prevention work is “almost constant” in the sub-tropical region.


Albuquerque recalled that the current Operational Programme Against Forest Fires (POCIF) corresponds to investment of €1.1 million, including €600,000 spent on a helicopter that is already operational and ready to be used in “unforeseeable situations”.


He also highlighted an extra €2.6 million a year earmarked for volunteer firefighter associations in Madeira, which work with the government in civil defence activity.