I am naturally proud of being from Liverpool as i have said before. But i have been reminded about the Fire Brigade here in Portugal or as they are called the Bombeiros. You find these brave men and women all over Portugal. These brave men and women risk there lives every time there is a call for there services.
About two years ago there was a fire the other side of Arganil in the direction of Coja. During that fire two/ three fire fighters lost there lives but the most tragic part was that one was a lady and she was pregnant.
The white tank below the helicopter is a water tank for the Bombeiros to get water to fight the fires. This water tank is in my village and it's only about 100 meters from my house.
When i was looking for my house before i moved here i saw the vehicles that the Bombeiros use. Coming from a big city i am used to ultra modern fire fighting machines but not here. With some roads in the area i live as narrow as 2 meters in places. How would ultra modern machines get down these roads and up some of the tracks. If you saw some of the machines you would think that they should be in a museum but they do the job.
The day of the picture above there where four helicopters that day taking water for a fire past Colmeal. I know there was four because of the registration numbers on the side of the body of the helicopter.
Interesting your bombeiros story, just to add that almost all of them are volunteers.Just the aviators and few others are professionals paid by the PT state.The rest live and work mostly from donnations maybe is one of the reasons their vehicles are so old and outdated.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I've seen of the bombeiros in Portugal they truly deserve credit for the job they do. They risk their lives day in and day out for little or no reward. Portugal and its people from my point of view are so very special and that is why, I decided to move to this most beautiful of countries.
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