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Date Published: 15/03/2023

Alicante City Council wavers fire service call-out fees in life-threatening situations

The move comes after an Alicante woman received a 211 euro bill for fire crew preventing her suicide attempt

Earlier this week, Alicante City Council was publicly panned for sending a woman who had attempted suicide a 211 euro bill a year after fire crews managed to save her life.

The woman had taken a large quantity of anti-depressants but thankfully a friend found her, alerted emergency services and a fire crew was quickly on the scene, "rescuing the woman in time".

Almost 12 months later, she was slapped with a bill that has been blasted for forcing her to "re-experience the same suffering". The Independent Union Central and Officials (CSIF) immediately denounced the city council and called for the controversial fee "to be eliminated".

Within 24 hours, the Mayor of Alicante mayor has announced it will stop charging for the firefighting service in "operations in which the life of the rescued person is in danger".

Luis Barcala, confirmed on Wednesday March 15 that a dossier is being prepared to modify the ordinance to include "the express exemption of those cases where the intervention of firefighters aims to save lives or the physical integrity of people".

The mayor acknowledged that what happened "has made it clear that it is essential to contemplate this particular exemption" for all cases of this kind, because "it is not the only one, nor will it be".

As for the specific case of the young Alicante woman who reported her situation on Tuesday, the mayor said that "we are going to take it back ex officio so that she does not have to pay the fee".

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The measure will be applicable retroactively to all open or pending cases, but there are concerns, as it will open the door to the interpretation of which actions are life-threatening and which are not.

In reponse, the mayor said that while it is not simple, "we can very well differentiate between leaving house keys inside or preventing a suicide".

However, he recognised that there is "a grey area that can generate ambiguity, which is being worked on" to decide on the best way to apply the exemption.

When in doubt, it will always be preferable "not to charge the tax rather than for it to be yet another punishment for a terrible situation that has already occurred," he added.

As for the formula for applying the exemption, Barcala explained that currently, the process is totally automated and goes directly to the Treasury without any explanation for the fee.

So, two changes are going to be made. On the one hand, a decision on whether or not to notify the Treasury will be made on the basis of the emergency report.

Secondly, it will be made very clear that there is an appeal process in cases where an exemption should have been made and wasn't, "because some documents always slip through".

Image: Consorcio Bomberos Alicante

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