Lagoa Council has supplied an ambulance and a drone to the local Fire Service, at a cost of €76,000.
Mayor, Francisco Martins, said this marks a further donation to the local Bombeiros so the service can have the best equipment possible to carry out life-saving work.
"This is the fourth ambulance we have delivered to the Bombeiros, as well as a fire-fighting support vehicle,” which has cost ratepayers, "about half a million euros," said Martins.
The ambulance was very much needed as the local INEM medical emergency service ambulance was withdrawn in January, ostensibly for repairs, but has not been seen since.
The drone will be used to help Bombeiros on some firefighting call-outs but mostly when dealing with incidents involving people falling off cliffs or getting stuck half way down.
Some of these incidents have been hampered by a lack of visibility so the drone can help, as it can be used to, "assess the situation without endangering a fireman and then decide what needs doing to rescue the person.”
