Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (EFE).- The 2023 fire campaign, which will have “a powerful device” of 218 troops, “one of the best prepared in Spain”, and adds the Kestrel Brigade, specialized in fire work with drones, “an important qualitative leap”.
The campaign, as detailed by the president of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Antonio Morales, in a press conference, officially begins on June 12 and will end on October 31, with the high-risk period from July 1 to October 30. September.
The unit includes the Presa units, the Bravo land brigades, agents of the Environment, the Firefighters of the Gran Canaria Emergency Consortium, Cecopin technicians, guards and patrols, as well as personnel and logistics managers who make up “one of the operations against best prepared fires in Spain”, he said.
Added to this device are two helicopters, one operational year-round and the other for six months, both based in Artenara, as well as the Kestrel Brigade, which incorporates about a dozen drone pilots equipped with thermal cameras.
Among the novelties of this campaign, he has insisted that it is a device with “great experience” and recognition outside the Canary Islands, and has recalled the operation of two helicopters with a multi-year contract, as well as the 10 land brigades, 6 Presa teams and five patrols operational from March 15 to December 31 that have “12 new fully equipped pickup vehicles” for their mission.
In the field of personnel, it has been celebrated that the selection process of the reserve lists has been completed, which will allow “agility of people to fill the positions of foreman, operator, drivers of special vehicles and managers” if necessary.
Soon, he said, 42 off-road vehicles and specific clothing will be delivered to the devices, with an investment of almost 4 million euros.
In turn, he recalled that “the reinforcement of Cecopin has been consolidated” with the incorporation of four surveillance managers, technicians and operators last year.
Morales has warned that there is practically no month in the year in which there is no risk of fire and has said that the island “is facing a year complicated by a dry winter with little rain” that is also chained by “several years of drought in the island and the dryness of the soil”, “which poses a greater risk of spreading the fire”.
Although he recalled that since the great fires of 2019 “vigilance has been maintained, rapid intervention in attempts has been made, preventing this island from suffering the devastating effects of the fires again”, the island “cannot lower its guard”.
He recalled “the preparation and perseverance of the staff, together with the increasing awareness in society as well”, as “main factors that avoid painful images like the ones we have experienced on the island”, and has also recognized “the role of the improvement of the equipment for the prevention and intervention of the environmental teams by land and air”.
He has also pointed out the importance of preventive work “of controlled burning, the work of the peasantry, and the consolidation of the collaboration of the shepherds of Gran Canaria”.
“Forest fires constitute the main threat to the mountains, both due to the loss of forest area, as well as environmental, recreational, and productive damage, and the very serious consequences for people, property, or property,” the island president insisted.
He has added that practically all the fires are due to “human causes” either caused or by imprudence, for which he has asked to scrupulously respect the indications and prevention measures.
The technical director of Emergencies of the Corporation, Federico Grillo, has detailed that last year “there was no fire” considering a fire from 10,000 square meters (one hectare), and there were only attempts, 26 specifically, with two and a half hectares affected.
The number of zero fires “is a record and a success” but he has warned that “we must not rest on our laurels, because fires do not move based on statistics” and he recalled that “there are years when a single fire burns a lot, as in 2019”. EFE
The entry The campaign against fires in Gran Canaria mobilizes 218 troops and adds a brigade with drones was first published in EFE Noticias.