Fires: In 2005, 80% of the Budget Was Spent On Renting Firefighting Planes
<p style="line-height: 20.7999992370605px;"><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">A report by the AGN explained that the expenditure represented only a portion of the needs of the Fire Management Plan, and the brigade salaries as well as replacement of various working tools were relegated. So the Audit recommended they "take precautions" to achieve the objectives of the initiative. However, in 2009 it was reduced by half.</span></p> <div> </div>
According to the Auditor General's Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish), for five years the National Fire Management Plan (PNMF, for its acronym in Spanish) did not develop regional plans and did not clearly define the criteria that had to be used to attack wildfires.
In addition, the watchdog said that the budget allocated in 2005, $9,027,315, 80% covered only hiring helicopters and air tankers. But this "only covers one part of the economic requirements," adding that the AGN should "take the budget in order to fund the salaries and allowances of the brigade’s travel expenses."
The Executive Unit of the National Fire Management Plan is responsible for developing prevention activities, training, and organization. The program is divided into three levels of action, jurisdictional, regional, and national coordinating assistance depending on the extent of the conflict and resolution capability.
In 2001, the Audit had identified that the budget allocated to the program did not fit the minimum requirements for the wild land fire management. Also, when the watchdog checked on the PNMF again in 2005, they verified that it had $ 9,027,315, of which "80% were spent on maintaining helicopters and air tankers." And yet, despite the recommendation of the AGN to adjust funding requirements of the Plan, the current budget for the year decreased to $4,549,707, 50.4% less.
Thus, the salaries of the brigade, infrastructure, equipment, and replacement of components, vehicles, tools, backpacks, water, and other economic needs were relegated. So the AGN described in its report adopted in 2006 on data from the previous year, which was aimed to evaluate the changes made to the observations made in 2000 on the PNMF.
Moreover, the audit found that since the first operation, the operating plan design "did not clearly define at what point the responsible court must apply the following support (regional or national) level, leaving it up to subjectivity."
Therefore, the paper points out that the PNMF requires more planning and organization, since the lack of precision on the methodology of action "generated many conflicts between different actors, resulting in a very inefficient and ineffective performance."
Moreover, unlike in 2000, although there is a coordination of regional development for the approval of the final report, no regional development plans to understand processes of diagnosis, planning, research, and work programs were implemented.
Other observations of the AGN in its first appearance and partially regularized during the second audit, was that "the automotive park was inadequate" and that the "building infrastructure and communications had no conditions to meet the basic needs of the brigade."
While, to the date of approval of the following work, there was a breakthrough in the grounds of the National Squad, "the tool shed is still small and does not have all the security in terms of access to unauthorized personnel." Even though they acquired more vehicles for the wild land and rural fires, "most of them had problems."