Primero Teguise has conveyed a concern that directly affects basic safety in the municipality's public spaces. After several visits to municipal facilities, offices, socio-cultural centers, and other dependencies, the group has detected the presence of fire extinguishers with expired inspection dates.
From the islander group, they emphasize that it is not a minor detail nor a merely administrative matter. They recall that a fire extinguisher is an essential element within any fire protection system and that its maintenance is mandatory according to current regulations. Its condition, they insist, is not a formality, but a guarantee of safety.
“An extinguisher is not for fulfilling a formality, it is for functioning when needed; and, if we don't know if it works, then we have a problem”, points out Jonás Álvarez, president and councilor of Primero Teguise.
In this regard, they consider that the situation points to a possible failure in the security system's tracking chain. It would not be solely about expired equipment, but about a complete process that might not be working correctly: from the validity of the contract, passing through the company responsible for maintenance, up to the control and supervision by the city council itself.
Likewise, they recall that state regulations on fire protection establish mandatory periodic inspections, including an annual inspection by an authorized company and a re-stamping every five years. Therefore, they warn that the existence of extinguishers with long-expired inspections could evidence a prolonged lack of maintenance.
“When such basic things fail, one wonders if the problem is specific or structural. Because this does not depend on a single person, it depends on an entire chain that should be working,” adds Álvarez, who also questions how this situation has not been detected in internal inspections or in the municipal activity itself.
From Primero Teguise they also recall that, when the city council organizes events or promotes projects that require security plans, these systems are part of the basic measures required. Therefore, they consider it legitimate to ask if these elements are really being supervised or if they are waiting for a risk situation to occur to act.
“The worrying thing is not only finding an expired extinguisher, but thinking that no one has seen it before or, even worse, that someone has seen it and has done nothing,” states Álvarez.
They also warn that an expired extinguisher not only ceases to fulfill its function, but can generate a false sense of security, aggravating the risk in case of emergency.
“A security system that is not reviewed is not a security system. Some will think that the fire extinguisher is part of the decoration, and with that, no one is protected,” he concludes.
The formation requests the city council an immediate action that guarantees safety in all its facilities, starting with the removal of the expired equipment and its replacement with others in correct condition. They also demand a public clarification about the state of the maintenance contract.
“Responsibilities must be cleared here. If the control chain has failed —contract, awarding company, municipal supervision and inspections— it is necessary to identify where the failure occurred and why it was not corrected in time,” explains Álvarez.
From Primero Teguise they insist that it is not about generating alarm, but about avoiding it, and emphasize that security must be a constant guarantee in public spaces.
