Latin American Military - Argentina - Prefectura Naval Argentina (PNA) - Servicio de Salvamento, Incendio y Protección Ambiental

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Revised: August 24, 2007
Copyright © 1997-2010 by Jean Charles Barroux - jbarroux@LAMilitary.org

The Servicio de Salvamento, Incendio y Protección Ambiental is in charge of the salvage, fire fighting and pollution fighting roles, both at sea and in port facilities. This important function has always been informally first, and latter formally, part of the main Prefectura Naval Argentina (PNA) roles, as well as salvage and navigation aids maintenance. Initially some of these functions were performed by civilian companies under the supervision of the force, but as time went on these functions were performed by the force and slowly normed and, in 1953, the Cuerpo de Salvamento e Incendio was formally created. Due to the large number of functions this unit was divided into the Servicio de Salvamento y Buceo, responsible mainly of the salvage and underwater obstacle removal, and the Servicio de Control de Averías e Incendios, responsible of the firefighting and damage control functions. In 1964 the law 16.526 was passed specifying in detail the powers and responsibilities of the force with regards of underwater obstacle removal, allowing for greater speed in the solution of these situations. Starting in 1976 other functions were added to the then División Salvamento y Buceo, specifically the fight against pollution in general and oil spills in particular, as per the law 22.190. This law also gave the force the police authority to investigate this kind of incidents as well as the power to fine infractors. Due to a large fire in the Dock Sud in 1984, it became clear that in fact the salvage and firefighting roles were very closely related and it was decided to merge the two divisions in the current Servicio de Salvamento, Incendio y Protección Ambiental. This new organisation created a number of Estaciones de Salvamento, Incendio y Contaminación, under the control of the corresponding prefecture, with according personnel and equipment, in the next ports: Ushuaia, Deseado, Madryn, San Antonio Oeste, Bahía Blanca, Mar del Plata, La Plata, Dock Sud, San Lorenzo and Barranqueras. There are also some Estaciones de Salvamento, Incendio y Contaminación at the service of the Servicio de Aviación (SEAV), specifically at Don Torcuato and Zárate. Other stations are being studied and might be created in the future.

The Servicio de Salvamento, Incendio y Protección Ambiental is organized as follows; División de Salvamento y Buceo, responsible mainly of the salvage and underwater obstacle removal, and the División de Control de Averías e Incendios, responsible of the firefighting and damage control functions. The current roles for this organisation are numerous and include the following; underwater inspections, salvage and/or removal of sunk vessels that impede normal navigation, oil and other contaminants spills control, firefighting, registration and control for both professional and recreational SCUBA divers, registration of salvage companies, salvage plans review and approval, explosives detection and removal, training in all of these matters to both internal and external forces and organisations, and, last but not least, adequate planning for all of these. The Servicio de Salvamento, Incendio y Protección Ambiental operates a number of special equipment, including a number of firetrucks acquired in 1996 and 1997.