“If firebreak seals are not made, if fire doors are not installed, if the fire detection system is not installed, we are creating conditions for a new fire. All that’s missing is a spark because all the combustible material is there!” warned João Mota Vieira during the Parliamentary Inquiry Commission to the fire at the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo (HDES), gathered in Ponta Delgada.
He explained to the deputies that the areas where the pharmacy and the HDES archive are located pose a significant risk to the safety of that health unit, according to reports previously made by the authorities, even before the fire on May 4, which severely damaged several hospital equipment.
In this context, he warned, “if there is a fire in these areas, the Ponta Delgada firefighters may face enormous difficulties in fighting it because we are talking about the hospital’s core, and without firebreak compartmentalization, the fire will spread inside” the building.
The technician, who had already been heard in another parliamentary commission at the Legislative Assembly of the Azores on the same subject, did not hide his criticism of the Regional Government and the Health Department of the Azores, for he believes they did not handle the situation well after the fire.
“People are sitting on a powder keg. They are playing with fire. How is it possible for such irresponsibility in a hospital of this size?” questioned the engineer, adding: “This is almost a crime!”
In his opinion, the safety concerns of HDES ceased to be a priority for the Azorean coalition executive (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) once it decided to invest in purchasing a modular hospital, a decision he considers was “rushed.”
“Safety was not a priority. The priority became the modular unit, and the main building became secondary,” lamented the engineer, who says he is “very concerned” about the lack of safety conditions at the largest hospital in the Azores.
For João Mota Vieira, there was, in 2024, a connection between the increase in the number of deaths in the islands of São Miguel and Santa Maria (over a hundred more than in 2023) and the lack of investments in HDES.
“It is hard to deny a link between the decisions made after the fire and this alarming increase in mortality in São Miguel and Santa Maria,” insisted the engineer, adding that “the situation requires detailed technical explanations from the Regional Government of the Azores.”
These statements drew criticism from PSD deputies in the inquiry commission, who felt that João Mota Vieira addressed matters beyond his technical competence.
On Wednesday, in another parliamentary hearing, Marco Ávila, another engineer who composed the report on the causes of the HDES fire, stated there had been human intervention in this case because the alarm system’s sound signal was turned off by someone.
“That signal had been deactivated. The central system, with its issues, was functioning, but the acoustic signal was deactivated,” highlighted the technician, emphasizing that “the deactivation” was the result of “intentional intervention by someone.”
The technician argued that this issue should be investigated by the police authorities.
According to the report by these two technicians, the fire on May 4, which partially destroyed the HDES and required the evacuation of all patients to other health units in the Azores, Madeira, and the mainland, originated from a “power factor correction capacitor battery,” which was discovered too late.
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