Bill to coordinate and regulate fire services across Spain

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill proposes a common framework for all fire services in the State, which today operate under very different rules, and would develop a statute that the Local Government Bases Law had called for since 1985 but which was never passed.
2. Firefighters would be career civil servants and officers of authority while on duty. The service would be free, except in cases of gross negligence, abuse or bad faith, and would be available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
3. A General Directorate of Fire Services, under the Ministry of the Interior, and a State Coordination Commission with regions, large municipalities, unions and other representatives would be created, to standardize uniforms, training, statistics and procedures.
4. The bill sets common organization rules: professional categories with a minimum qualification, main and auxiliary fire stations, intervention teams, station locations and response times, all to be standardized through ministerial orders.
5. Operational staff would have life and civil liability insurance, legal defense paid by the administration, and access to second activity status, a scheme that adapts job duties when physical or mental health no longer allows regular service, without a pay cut.
6. The Government would have to create the new bodies within one year, an autonomous body for airport firefighters within two years, and send Parliament a Basic Firefighter Statute within six months. The regions would have two years to adapt their rules.

Who it affects

• Firefighters of public administrations: They would have a common status, duties, training and labor rights across the State.
• Municipalities with more than 20,000 residents: They would have to guarantee fire service with a main station, staffed by career civil servants.
• Autonomous communities and cities: They would have to adapt their rules to the common criteria within two years and take part in the State Commission.
• The public: People would receive a free, uniform fire service, available at all times, across the whole territory.
• Airport fire service staff: They would move under a State autonomous body instead of the current managing company.

Words worth knowing

SPEIS

Spanish acronym for Fire Prevention, Suppression and Rescue Services, that is, fire departments.

Segunda actividad (second activity)

A special status letting a firefighter with reduced physical or mental capacity do adapted duties without a pay cut.

Isócronas (isochrones)

Areas reachable from a fire station within a set time; used to organize response times.

Agente de la autoridad (officer of authority)

A person whose orders and reports have legal force while acting on the job, as with the police.

Consorcio (consortium)

An organization created by several administrations together to provide a service on a shared basis.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries