Lisbon (or "Lisboa" in Portugeese) is the capitol city of Portugal. Within the 84 square kilometer/40 square mile area of the city live close to one million people. Fire and rescue service is provided to the city by the "Regimento de Sapeurs Bombeiros de Lisboa". This semi-militarized force of 1,200 career/fulltime personnel is funded by the city yet it operates under control of a fire chief who is an externally-appointed, college-trained, Army or civilian engineer.

STATIONS
5 battalions HQs + 5 battalion satelite stations + 1 airport station + 1 station at the EXPO 98 complex
RSB HQ - Avenue D Carlos I between the Parliament Building and the Tagus River in the Bairro Alto area
Unit 1 Central Station - at RSB HQ
Unit 1 Satellite Station - Avenida da Liberdade at the Restauradores Metro Stop
Unit 2 Central Station - Calcada da Tapada at Rua Jau near the Instituto Superior Agronomia (Agricultural Institute)
Unit 2 Satellite Station - in the Florestal de Monsanto Park at Avenida Tenente Martins at Crua das Oliveiras
Unit 3 Central Station - Avenida do Rio Janeiro at Avenida do Brazil near the Alvalade Metro Stop
Unit 3 Satellite Station - Estrada de Benfica at Avenida Gomes Pereira near the Colegio Militar Metro Stop
Unit 4 Central Station - Larga da Graca near the Panteao and Saint near the Martim Moniz Metro Stop
Unit 4 Satellite Station - Ave Defensores de Chaves at Casal Ribeiro near the Saldahna Metro Stop
Unit 5 Central Station - Ru Dr Jose Espirito Santo at Rue Do Alviela near the Chelas Metro Stop
Unit 5 Satellite Station - Avenida de Berlim at Avenida Cidade do Porto next to the Lisbon International Airport
International Airport Station
Exposition 98 Station

RANKS OF PERSONNEL
Chief - an externally appointed engineer
Deputy Chief of Operations - an externally appointed engineer
Deputy Chief of Technical Operations - an externally appointed engineer

Career Personnel
Chefe-Ajudante - is in charge of a staff function at HQ - is on call to command large incidents
Chefe de 1rst Classe - is the commanding officer of a Battalion
Chefe de 2nd Classe - leads a shift within a Battalion - responds to all significant incidents in the Battalion when on duty
Sub-chefe Ajudante - similar duties to the Chefe de 2nd Classe
Sub-Chefe - leads a shift at a satellite station - will respond to local calls in the first due light pumper
Cabo - is the ranking person in a pumper if not overranked - leads a crew responding to minor incidents
Sapador - firefighter
Recruta - probationary firefighter
(Black helmets are worn by Sub-chefes, cabos, sapadors, and recrutas - all other staff wear white helmets)

STAFF
The RSB utilizes - 6 Chefe-Ajudante + 10 Chefe de 1rst Classe + 36 Chefe de 2nd Classe + 24 Sub-chefe Ajudante + 90 Sub-Chefe + 210 Cabo + 650 Sapador.

VEHICLES OF THE RSB (1998)
6 light pumpers + 2 four wheel drive (FWD) pumpers + 14 medium pumpers + 2 FWD medium pumpers + 9 heavy tankers + 10 aerial ladders + 2 aerial platforms + 3 special extinguishing agent units + 2 light rescues + 2 water rescue trucks + 1 building collapse unit + 1 lighting unit + 2 mechanical shovels on wheels + 1 mobile command post + 6 mobile winch/cranes + 12 light personnel carriers/vans + 1 advanced life support ambulance + 4 basic ambulances + 17 chief officer's cars and vans + 30 service/support/administration vehicles + 5 trailers (high expansion foam/compressed air/boats)

RSB OPERATIONAL STATISTICS FOR 1997
499 structure fires + 727 open-air fires + 211 explosions or car fires + 944 flood rescues or flood operations + 3559 water or gas leaks + 18 boat/river incidents + 555 emergency ambulance calls + 1215 non-emergency ambulance calls + 3280 minor street or building incidents + 3643 opening of house doors + 398 animal rescues or apprehensions + 330 malicious false alarms with actual turn-outs

Special thanks to Jose Lucena for being the local data collection contributor for this item.