"Stop workshop" or "ABS defect": the new fire trucks in Andalusia continue to fall

“Stop immediately”, “ABS defect”, “Workshop stop”, “PTO1 conditions not OK”. These are the messages that can be read on the screens of some of the new pumper trucks of the Infoca Plan and that is forcing them to be repaired in the middle of the season of high risk of forest fires. A situation that the unions are denouncing and on which the Junta de Andalucía responded that one was already operational.

After this newspaper reported that at least two of these vehicles were damaged, and that the Ministry of the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue and Administrative Simplification specified that they were back in operation after correcting “small oil leaks due to bad joints state or defective”, this Monday there were another three that were being repaired. Specifically, in a mechanical workshop specialized in trucks that is located on Torre del Mar street in Malaga, in the Santa Teresa industrial estate.. Sources from the firefighting service consulted by this newspaper stated that they were vehicles attached to the checkpoints of Alhaurín el Grande, El Burgo and Marbella..

Sergio Blanco, delegate of the Independent Union of Andalusian Workers (UITA), reiterated the same question he had asked days ago: “Have these vehicles gone through a test bench before delivery?”. And he asked for a definitive solution to this problem because “the safety of the Infoca Plan workers is at risk”.

Sources from the aforementioned ministry only confirmed on Wednesday that one of the three trucks had been repaired and was already incorporated into the device.. The other two, as verified by this newspaper through graphic tests, were still in the same workshop.

The discomfort is growing among the forest firefighters, who are documenting the alleged failures with images, and of which the computer system informs with messages on the truck's screen.

“Poorly designed and with engine problems,” said Blanco, who recalled that on July 1 they communicated to those responsible for the device a series of “important” deficiencies detected in the vehicles and that have not yet received a response. “We are talking about new trucks, not ones that have been bought second hand and that are 20 years old”.

The council, in a previous response, defended that “never before had Infoca had heavy firefighting vehicles so effective and safe for extinction and forest firefighters”, although the latter, according to the aforementioned trade union organization, “transfer to us that they did not stop giving trouble”. This situation, they add, limits the operation of the service “in the period of maximum risk”. The bomber trucks under suspicion are 17 and are distributed throughout the community.

Meanwhile, this Wednesday there was a new meeting between the representatives of the IUF, UGT, CCOO and CSIF with those responsible for the Infoca Plan where they were given to understand that the “faults” had been corrected and they downplayed them..

The sources consulted complained that the regional Administration still does not make a clear statement on issues such as seniority, and to the complaints expressed they have added that “the rest periods between days are not being met”. An issue that they have asked to discuss, and that they are willing to take to court because “the minimum 12 hours between shifts are not respected”.

The four unions recently warned that “our patience has run out”. “No progress is being made, nor is the future of the Environment and Water Agency (Amaya) specified,” they criticized after the launch of the new Agency for Security and Comprehensive Emergency Management of Andalusia (Asema) and the process integration into it.” We have always said that if two agencies are to be established, both must be operational. The Junta de Andalucía must provide them with human and material resources”, they pointed out this Thursday in a new statement, in which they announced that “it is expected that in the month of September the workers will be officially notified that they are going to join the Asema”.