A bill introduced by Senator Eduardo Nakayama proposes allocating approximately $20 million a year to strengthen the Volunteer Firefighters Corps of Paraguay. The proposal was discussed at a public hearing held on September 4, 2026, and provides funding for equipment, vehicles, stations and expanded territorial coverage.
Nakayama said the country faces a high incidence of traffic accidents, particularly those involving motorcyclists, as well as urban and forest fires. The senator said firefighters are on the “front line” of emergencies and often rescue accident victims before paramedic teams arrive.
The bill also seeks to reduce reliance on collections and donations, which support a significant part of fire departments’ operations. Nakayama criticized the use of vehicles, uniforms and equipment received from abroad, some of them decades old. “We cannot continue maintaining them through donations from friendly countries,” he said.
Regional inequality is one of the bill’s central arguments. The Chaco covers approximately 60% of Paraguay’s territory but has only five fire stations, while the largest concentration of facilities is in Asunción and the Central Department. In several municipalities, there is no water tanker or nearby firefighting team to respond quickly to fires and accidents.
Firefighter representatives supported public funding but said their demand was for the emergency system to be strengthened, rather than for a simple transfer of money. National brigadier Richard López, president of the Firefighters Association, said volunteers have been assuming responsibilities related to civil defense and emergency response for about five decades.
Captain Oscar Acuña said most of the funds administered by firefighters come from collections and donations. He said the country has approximately 22,000 firefighters and called for volunteers to be recognized as public servants, with adequate conditions to respond to fires, accidents, rescues and contamination incidents.
The bill must still advance through Congress before its possible inclusion in the budget and the criteria for distributing the funds are determined. If approved, the funding could change response capacity in regions where the distance to a fire station or lack of equipment currently prolongs emergency response.