In a statement, the Algarve Intermunicipal Community (AMAL) said that the protocol involves the 16 Algarve municipalities, the Algarve National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority, the Algarve Firefighters Federation and the 13 humanitarian firefighter associations in the district.

According to AMAL, the commitment foresees, for this year, “an increase in funds” to be allocated to firefighters who are part of the Special Rural Firefighting Device (DECIR), during the period in which the population increases considerably in the Algarve, as a tourist destination.

The National Civil Protection Authority will provide a daily contribution of 75 euros to each firefighter (7.70 euros more than last year), and the Algarve municipalities will contribute a total of 883,920 euros.

The daily contribution from AMAL to be granted to each of the 1,191 firefighters that make up DECIR will be 30 euros (four euros more than in 2024), an increase approved last Friday at a meeting of the Intermunicipal Council.

The remaining funds, which will also be transferred to the Algarve Firefighters Federation, are intended to contribute towards the payment of services carried out by firefighters. Each municipality will contribute a global amount of €55,245, according to AMAL.

As in previous years, the protocol arises from the need to maintain in the Algarve “teams dedicated exclusively to fighting rural fires, without compromising the effectiveness of the response to other protection and relief incidents that may arise”.

The protocol is in force between May 15 and October 15, the period most vulnerable to the occurrence of rural fires, and establishes the criteria and procedures related to financing for the creation of DECIR.

The device has “proven to be fundamental and effective in the initial fire-fighting attack”, AMAL also states.

AMAL is made up of the 16 municipalities of the Algarve:

The association's mission is to “enhance the development of municipalities and reinforce and promote the identity of the Algarve Region, through the articulation of interests and the creation of synergies”.