“If some politicians believe that investing in people’s safety is too expensive, then they should inform their constituents about their views.”
The syndicate supports the “ambitious” plan that was put forward by Minister for Home Affairs Taina Bofferding. The main objective of the new so-called “National Plan for the Organisation of the Emergency Services”, or “Pnos” in short, aims at decreasing the reaction time of first responders.
The goal is to reduce the maximum time anywhere in the country to 15 minutes. To that end, the infrastructure of both professional firefighters and the voluntary fire brigade needs to be reorganised and expanded.
Last week, the municipal union Syvicol questioned the price increase, which is estimated to be 10% over a five-year-period, as they believe it to be in conflict with the simultaneous decrease in government support for emergency service costs.
Furthermore, they enquired about the nature of the decision to recruit more professional firefighters than was still the case in 2018. As a potential solution, they proposed to rely on private companies for the transportation of patients.
