Puerto Vallarta, Mexico - With the goal of fortifying the Puerto Vallarta Civil Protection and Fire Department, the municipal government, headed by Arturo Dávalos Peña, is studying options for obtaining the resources to construct a new fire substation that will include an advanced weather monitoring system and emergency shelter.

At a recent ordinary session of the city council, Civil Protection Building Commission President Elisa Ramirez Ruelas presented the initiative to authorize the construction of the new sub-station. She reiterated that the purpose of the initiative is to strengthen the work carried out by the Civil protection and fire department every day for the benefit of Vallartenses, so the plan was accepted and sent to the Civil Protection and Firefighters' finance commission for consideration.

The municipal president has already set aside a 3,865 square meter piece of land on the corner of Víctor Iturbe Avenue and Everest Street in Colonia Lomas de San Nicolás that complies with the required specifications, and has presented the executive project to Congress for federal financing, which has not yet received a response.

The executive project, which was planned in collaboration with meteorologist Victor Cornejo López of the University of Guadalajara, indicates that the substation will have administrative and operational areas, an emergency shelter, a gymnasium, a parking lot for six fire trucks and a local weather monitoring center, which does not exists in any other municipality of the country.

"The monitoring center is very important because Puerto Vallarta's orography and hydrography is vulnerable to natural phenomena such as hurricanes, floods, and landslides. With the monitoring center's technical equipment we could monitor these events throughout the region, including other municipalities," said Mayor Arturo Dávalos Peña.

The building's emergency shelter, dubbed 'La Casa de la Cultura' will, in case of contingency, be able to accommodate 300 people. The building will have four rooms, a cellar, recreation area, areas for the provision of services such as nursing, psychology and social work, among others, as well as a dining room and kitchen.

The construction of the substation requires an investment of 13 million pesos, not including the technical equipment for the monitoring center, which is quite expensive.