Under the auspices of the Baixo Alentejo Sub-Regional Emergency and Civil Protection Command, is taking place in the old Picanheiras Tourist Complex, in Ferreira do Alentejo, in fire drill and search and rescue.
Permanent Intervention Teams participate in the exercise (EIP) Ferreira do Alentejo Volunteer Firefighters, Beja, Serpa and Moura, that test its operability in the context of urban fires.
Taking into account that the building has been unused for many years and is in an advanced state of degradation, firefighters simulate a fire in the kitchen and adjacent spaces, and then the operatives from the various corporations enter inside and test the capabilities.,
The same building was yesterday the site of an exercise involving Army forces, to test the search and rescue of hostages in a war context.
This morning, The large amount of black smoke coming out of the space alerted drivers and occupants of vehicles passing through the area., thinking it was a fire.
Remember that Picanheiras, located along the National Road (IN) 121, about one kilometer from Ferreira do Alentejo, which was owned by a lawyer, who had inherited his father's unit, was definitively closed on the day 5 December 2016, after an inspection by ASAE, Health services, GNR and Firefighters.
The unit had long been in very dilapidated condition on the exterior and interior., and unable to accommodate guests and in a previous “visit” by the authorities, a deadline was given for the recovery of the unit, that never happened
In operation 5 of December, within the building, which has about forty rooms, They were 119 people, 7 of which children, all foreign, Romanian, Indians and Pakistanis, who dedicated themselves to pick olives in holdings located in the municipality of Ferreira do Alentejo.
Established in 1983, Complex of Picanheiras, the patient was in the era as one of the innovative hotel spaces, with swimming pool, which was never completed.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
