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On the 30th of December of the same year and on the 23rd of January and the 13th of February of 1890, the same Annals register municipal firefighter nominations, from which it can be concluded that since there was no record of the effective dissolution of the Corporation, the firefighters who made up the Corporation’s board were truly fired.
In 1890 the fire service was renamed the “Body of Public Salvation”.
With the growth of the city and following some major fires in which there were serious damage to property and loss of many lives, the City Council published, on the 6th of June of 1898, a regulation for the service of the “Bombs Department”, then “Body of Public Salvation”, with three sections and a staff of 1 sergeant, 1 second sergeant, 2 cables and 36 soldiers, all belonging to the Police Unit Body.
In 1900, a new remodeling of the “Fire Service” is considered – Body of Public Salvation. It is at the 13th of March of that same year that the City Council makes a new request to His Majesty through a letter signed by several personalities of the city, with the following content: “(…) Now that this city has not only the Municipal Fire department unit with the respective fire materials (…). (…) I would ask the Queen the needed permission so that the Council can oblige the individuals with pecuniary and imprisonment penalties needed for the said effect to serve in the same purpose, them being divided into two units, each with twenty men, with a guide, to whom they would obey and who would lead and command them properly at the time of the fires, serving each unit by the time of six months”.
Current records were made, based on verbal information that the unit underwent another reorganization in the first decade of the twentieth century, when it was instructed by a subordinate of the Grand Master who was Guilherme Gomes Fernandes (symbol of the Portuguese firefighters). For lack of their own space, the instruction was given at Largo do Museu, today called Largo do Marquês de Pombal- and ended with a simulated exercise at the University campus. At that time, the Corporation was equipped with a “Magirus” ladder, two cars with six flights of stairs each, some pumps and some carts of hoses.
There might have been a new wave of dismissals or expulsions, judging by what it is written in the “Annals of the Municipality” dated on 20th of December of 1923, which says that “(…) given the great lack of firefighters and the good services provided lately, it was decided to readmit some of the firefighters who had been expelled (…) “.
Firefighters would be fired for “anything” and expulsions were very frequent, as were the readmissions and admissions of new firefighters.
In 1924 it was deduced that the Corporation was composed of 40 firefighters, judging by the order records of 40 uniforms, for the municipal firefighters.
This number was substantially reduced following an exposition by 24 firefighters in which they asked for the resignation of a Chief, nicknamed Guerra, for alleged abuse of authority, or else the corporation would face the dismissal of all of the firefighters. The City Council opted for the dismissal of the 24 firefighters.
On the 21st of January of the following year, a plenary meeting of the City Council was held in which the inhabitants presented a motion- after a violent fire in the post offices, where the lack of personnel at the Fire Department was very noticeable. The motion requested the readmission of the dismissed firefighters and changes in the Fire Services. This motion was sanctioned by the City Council.
In 1906, the Corporation had a Central Station at Avenida Sá da Bandeira, where a Primary School is located today. There was at the rear of the Station, a Wooden School House for training the firefighters.
Later, these facilities were demolished, by deliberation of the City Council – probably to build what is now the Primary School – and material and men were transferred to an existing shed at the bottom of the street called “Entre Muros”.
There was also a Station in the upper part of the city, on a street named “Colchas” (later re-named “Guilherme Gomes Fernandes”). The toponymic plate of the street was recovered by a firefighter during the demolition of that artery and is today placed in the wall that gives name to the stop of the old Quarter at Avenida Sá da Bandeira.
There is also news of the existence of a Corporation Station at the building of the City Council – north side, where later the Municipal Library was installed and today is the space assigned for exhibitions – later transferred to “Pátio da Inquisição”.
Another news also reports that there were simultaneously three Municipal Fire Stations, one in “Rua do Cego”, another in Montes Claros and a third one in Santa Clara, next to the Military Quarter that is today the Battalion Aid Station.
The firefighters of the Fire Inspection Department of Coimbra came to occupy the premises of the Av. Sá da Bandeira (not all of them, since some buildings are of a later construction), on the 14th of July of 1910, four years after the budget was approved for the construction of the building. This construction resembled what is now the “Edíficio do Comando” and which corresponds to the central building.
On the ground floor of this building were the Stations for animal traction cars, which were housed in an existing barn east of the premises.
The construction of the “Casa Escola” and other buildings began in 1922 and the inauguration took place around 1930.
From that decade on, the Fire Services were centralized in these installations, having the City Council ended all the other stations.The Municipal Fire Service receives the first car to replace the animal traction car (mules) on the last day of the year of 1925.
However, it continues to lack staff and resources. It came to be published in an Order of Service dated of the 16th of October of 1926 that whenever there was a fire outside the city, but within the Municipality, the Head of Service was authorized to rent a light motor vehicle, at a maximum speed of 200/Km, to tow the motor firefighting pump, because the first aid mobile car could not leave the city.
The following text is still written in the “Annals of the Municipality” dated of the 18th of January of 1940: “The number of units that compose the Municipal Fire Department is known through an exposition of its Commander, the Eng. José Celestino Regala, who dismisses the responsibility of acting with such a small number of firefighters in a possible big fire.”
Following this exposition, the Municipal Assembly on the 12th of December of 1940 provisionally approved the General Regulation of the Municipal Fire Department and on the 9th of January of 1941, the nominations of several members for the Municipal Fire Department were proposed and approved.
On the 27th of February of the same year, the Regulations for Courses and Degrees of Education and preparation of the Municipal Fire Department of Coimbra were approved on a provisional basis (this news were taken from the “Annals of the Municipality”).
The Corporation began its existence under the name of “Company of the Bombs” and was also designated until 1890 as a Fire Service, then being called the “Body of Public Salvation” and “Fire Service Inspection”. In 1940 it became known as the Municipal Fire Department.
On the 3rd of April of 1981, the Municipal Assembly decided to pass the Municipal Fire Department to Firefighters Corporation committing, however, some illegalities (because it was not up to it to deliberate as it deliberated), and the situation became legalized only in 1987.
Currently, the Coimbra’s Firefighters Corporation has an approved organic framework of 140 firefighters.
In the history of the FC (Firefighter’s Corporation) in Coimbra there are many records of acts of bravery and reports of rapid and effective actions in the attack and extinction of large fires, as is the case of the fires of Rua das Azeiteiras, of the postal services station, of Fábrica de Cerâmica Lusitânia, of Fábrica de Papel da Lousã and many others. In the “Annals of the Municipality” dated of the 28th of March of 1940, regarding the fire of the Fábrica de Cerâmica Lusitânia it can be read a note from the Councilor of the Fire Department praising the two Corporations involved and, on the 18th of July of the same year: “The Administrator of Fábrica de Papel wants to thank the good services that the Municipal Firefighters provided there, in the burning building of that factory. “
In addition to all the activity they undergo as firefighters, they also practice various sports, such as volleyball, of which they have enough trophies, some national; soccer; athletics and firefighting maneuvers – national tournament with a view to the participation at a European level.
On the 4th of July of 1997, the first stone of their current facilities was placed by the Mayor, Dr. Manuel Machado.
The change of facilities took place on the 1st of February of 1999, with an official inauguration on the 13th of March of 1999, in the presence of the Minister of the Equipment, Planning and Territory Administration, Eng. João Cravinho.
Previous commanders
Captain Mário Augusto Lebre da Silva Grilo: 1992 – 1995
Major Diogo Joaquim Freire Da Mesquita Lavajo: 1988 – 1992
Major Jorge António Bernardo: 1982 – 1988
Lieutenant José Maria das Neves Cruz e Santos: 1974 – 1981
Lieutenant Colonel José de Rosa Carvalhal: 1973 – 1974
Lieutenant António da Silva Brás: 1969 – 1973
Major Manuel Gedeão: 1963 – 1969
Lieutenant Luiz da Costa Miguel: 1963
Captain Henrique Lopes Paula de Matos: 1962 – 1963
Captain Júlio Veiga Simão: 1960 – 1962
Captain Fernando Leal Robles: 1955 – 1959
Captain Manuel Maria Delgado e Silva: 1951 – 1955
Lieutenant Luiz Correia Mourão: 1944 – 1951
Captain Fernando Artur de Oliveira: 1943 – 1944
Colonel José Celestino Regala: 1938 – 1942
Lieutenant Fernando De Oliveira Leite: 1930s
Inspector Arménio Leal Gonçalves: 1930s
Inspector José de Albuquerque: 1920s
Inspector José Simões Pais: 1910-20s
Commander António Maria da Conceição: 1910-20s
Inspector Jorge Agnelo Viana Pedreira: 1910s
The current Commander of the CFC since 1996