The government has the liberty to make any replacements, but the APROSOC asserts that merely replacing the system will not alter the situation. This was stated by the association in a communiqué released today.
Following the failure during the blackout on Monday, the government announced on Friday the establishment of a “technical and multisectoral working group” aimed at the “urgent replacement” of the SIRESP network. This team is expected to deliver results within a 90-day timeframe.
According to APROSOC, the root of the issue lies with “the successive governments” since the inception of SIRESP (Sistema Integrado de Redes de Emergência e Segurança de Portugal).
“We have repeatedly pointed out numerous solutions, but these have been disregarded. Moreover, whatever little was done, successive governments continually misrepresented the scale of both the action undertaken and the persistence of the problem. We still know the solution because we are familiar with the problems firsthand,” the association stated.
The association emphasized that “the unresolved issue of security and emergency radiocommunications is not due to a lack of investment capacity,” but rather “because of entrenched interests,” which they believe “should be a judicial case.”
“More than was necessary has been invested to solve the problem, primarily through satellite connections, simply to avoid admitting that transitioning from PT’s (Portugal Telecom) ‘mini link’ to fiber optics was a deceit by the administration led at the time by Zeinal Bava,” it accused.
APROSOC stressed the necessity for an emergency communications system to have territorial coverage, traffic capacity, selective interconnection, power autonomy, and maintenance.
In the association’s view, the blackout revealed “non-operational repeaters,” a lack of training for “all operational personnel,” dissemination problems of self-protection recommendations, inability to coordinate between the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC) and Municipal Civil Protection Services (SMPC), and the absence of amateur radio, PMR446, and Citizen’s Band equipment in the SMPC.
The SIRESP communications network has been fraught with controversy since its creation, undergoing major changes after the failures during the 2017 fire fighting efforts. However, it once again encountered limitations during this week’s blackout.
Despite numerous modifications and hundreds of millions of euros invested, SIRESP, the state’s emergency communications network, faltered critically during Monday’s general power outage, which affected the accessibility of the network for security forces, firefighters, and INEM.
SIRESP is the exclusive communications network of the Portuguese state for command, control, and coordination of communications in all emergency and security situations. It serves the needs of more than 40,000 users and supports an annual volume of over 35 million calls.
