AND forest fire is this the one fire that spreads uncontrollably through forest land that was not intended to burn. Obviously forest and environmental damage what causes, we must add the consequences on the civilian population and their property what do they do forest fires an issue that must be addressed by civil protection and emergency services.
According to statistics from forest fires in Spain they produce average a few 17,000 forest fires (most of them are less than 1 ha.) affecting some 114,000 ha of forest area. Among them, according to the archives of General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies: an annual average of 80 forest fires have consequences on the populationmainly due to preventive evacuations, but we must also regret the deaths, injuries, cuts in communication routes and services and damaged infrastructure.
The Council of Ministers, on the proposal of the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO)approved this Tuesday the processing of a service contract with air assets to support autonomous communities in extinguishing forest fires for the years 2025, 2026 and 2027 for an estimated value of 187 685 854,06 euros.
This service is in addition to the aerial device owned by the General Administration of the State, made up of 14 Canadair amphibious aircraft, with a water discharge capacity of 5,500 liters per aircraft..
The purpose of the file currently being processed is to regulate the provision of a forest fire extinguishing service.awarded by open procedure, with 26 brigade water transport and launch helicopters, 1 semi-heavy bomber helicopter, 4 light helicopters, 5 medium-capacity amphibious aircraft and 6 cargo aircraft on the ground for the next thirty months.
Goals:
- Supporting autonomous communities in extinguishing forest fires by throwing water both as an initial attack and as a prolonged attack.
- Transport the components of the forest fire reinforcement brigades (BRIF) as indicated, to participate in the extinguishing work.
- Throwing water on fires to support ground personnel which participates in extinction, delays ignition and reduces their intensity.
The support that MITECO provides to different regions during major forest fires is operational all year round.thus being able to meet the needs regardless of the time of year when a forest fire may break out, a necessary feature in state building, given the consequences of climate change.
Il MITECO takes care of requests for support from autonomous communities and coordinates the response to fires with appropriate means, in collaboration with the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of the Interior.
In April, the Ministry of Defense and MITECOsigned an agreement for the renewal and improvement of the national fleet of amphibious forest firefighting aircraft. Currently, the fleet is made up of 14 amphibious aircraft, of which 11 belong to MITECO and three to the Ministry of Defense.. All are managed jointly, as a single fleet, organically dependent on Defense and functionally on the Ecological Transition; which decides on its actions based on the risk of fire and at the request of the autonomous communities.
