The concerning truth about Portugal’s emergency communications system, SIRESP, is that is has not worked properly since 2010, failing with dramatic results in the Pedrógão Grande fire of June this year in which 64 people perished.
The performance reports drawn up by the SIRESP network's own managers outline a worrying list of failures over the last seven years, failures that are triggered when the system is most needed - during storms, fires NATO summits and papal visits.
Power outages, battery failures, the absence of backup generators, burned or destroyed cables during storms - plus local stations, and mobile and fixed antennas with little of the necessary capacity to handle emergency communications... the list is a long one and is described in detail in performance reports produced by the network operator between 2010 and 2017.
The communication system used by firefighters and security forces fails every year and goes down not only during fires, as happened this year in Pedrógão Grande and Mação, but also during storms such as in February 2014, when 'Stephanie' swept across several districts for three days and 13% of the SIRESP network went down due to power outages.
The network also failed on the eve of the NATO Summit in July 2016, generating bitter complaints from the GNR, SEF and PSP. In May, when Pope Benedict XVI visited Portugal, the three base stations at Fátima could not handle the volume of communication.
At a hearing in parliament on 27 July, 2017, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Constança Urbano de Sousa, admitted that SIRESP's operating failures are nothing new, recognising that the communications system also failed during the July 2012 fires in Caramulo and in the 2013 floods.
The SIRESP contract was signed in 2006 containing penalties for poor performance but the company has never been fined.
The former Minister of Internal Affairs, Miguel Macedo, said that he had not fined SIRESP SA as he had renegotiated the contract and lowered the price to the State, “saving €25 million.”
Those relying on the system would have preferred that it worked, rather than having a cost saving at the expense of lives.
