"The most important material that we didn't lose was no lives. All lives were saved and that is the greatest asset, but, in fact, there were losses of hoses, fans, nozzles which are the tips of the fire-fighting hoses", said the president of the Humanitarian Association of Volunteer Firefighters of Ponta Delgada.

João Paulo Medeiros was speaking to journalists at the Ponta Delgada barracks after a ceremony to honour the firefighters who fought the fire at the HDES, which, he said, caused losses of around 15 thousand euros to that humanitarian association.

The leader highlighted that the fire-fighting material has a "very high cost" and said that the firefighters hope to "count on the support of the Regional Government" to replace the equipment.

"The report and the inventory were made at the request of the Regional Service of Civil Protection and Firefighters of the Azores. It was sent by our commander with a view to there being extraordinary support because it is all very expensive material", he stressed, giving as examples "damaged suits" and "melted helmets".

When questioned, João Paulo Medeiros said that the report of the occurrence will be "quite complex and extensive", and is being prepared by the commander of the corporation.

The president of the Ponta Delgada firefighters recalled that there were "highly flammable materials", since the incident happened at the electrical transformer station, which meant that the firefighters were subject to "temperatures of over a thousand degrees".

"It would be very difficult to do more and better because at a certain point the firefighters stood between the wall of fire and the hospital. They moved to a defensive situation. They fought with all the weapons they had and managed to avoid a calamity that could have been horrific".

Regarding the revision of the firefighter's social statute, announced by the Government of the Azores, João Paulo Medeiros considered it to be a "first step", which "has its merit" and which is "welcome".

The fire at the Ponta Delgada hospital, which broke out at 09:40 local time on 04 May (10:40 in Lisbon) and was only declared extinguished at 16:11, forced the transfer of all the patients who were hospitalised to various locations in the Azores, Madeira and the mainland.

The Government of the Azores declared a state of public calamity the following day to "accelerate procedures" to normalise, in a "short space of time", the activity of the largest health unit in the Azores.

The clinical management announced in the meantime that the hospital will be reactivated slowly.

An accounting of the damage caused by the fire has not yet been released.

Leia Também: Hospital de Ponta Delgada retoma tratamentos a alguns doentes oncológicos (Portuguese version)