Portugal city to build local training Unit

Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the association’s president, João Gouveia, said interested companies now have 14 days to submit bids for the project.

He expressed hope that the tender would not go unanswered—given the current labour shortage—and that companies would submit proposals for the project, which has a one-year completion timeline.

“We hope to receive bids for the construction of this facility, and that within about a year, the Local Training Unit for Civil Protection Agents will become a reality; we are optimistic,” he emphasised.

According to the project plans Lusa reviewed, this new training unit will provide Mogadouro firefighters with a modern, functional facility tailored to current operational training requirements.

The document further notes that “the site includes a training building, indoor and outdoor training grounds, a training tower, and technical containers, enabling both theoretical and practical training to be conducted under realistic and safe conditions.”

According to João Gouveia, the new facility is open to all fire departments in the region and across the country that want to conduct training exercises here, specifically for urban and forest firefighting missions.

Meanwhile, Mogadouro’s mayor, António Pimentel, explained that the municipality allocated approximately 800,000 euros—funds originally earmarked for Civil Protection—to the fire department to build a training ground.

On 20 January 2025, the municipality of Mogadouro and the local volunteer fire department association signed a gratuitous loan agreement (comodato) to use a 2.5-hectare plot of land for a firefighter training school; the land was valued at 35,000 euros at the time.

The agreement, with a term of approximately 30 years, concerns a site in the Vale Calheiros area of Mogadouro, where a Local Training Unit for Civil Protection Personnel will be established.