The Junta de Andalucía and the public waste company Enresa have decided to renew their collaboration in order to prevent and fight forest fires. A significant amount of money has been allocated for this purpose and the incorporation of more air assets is expected.
The Minister of Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz, and the President of Enresa, José Luis Navarro, signed a collaboration agreement between the two institutions at the San Telmo Palace for promote prevention and control measures against forest fires in Andalusia. The director of the El Cabril storage center, Eva Noguero, was also present at the event.
Tenacious fight against forest fires
The objective of this agreement was to renew cooperation between the two entities. Through this agreement, Enresa will provide a light transport and firefighting helicopter, crew and mechanics, as well as the appropriate helipad and facilities for the arrangement of human and material equipment. The base is located in a strategic area, since there is little road infrastructure for the transit of vehicles and forest firefighters.
Concretely, the aerial vehicle will remain positioned in El Cabril, in Hornachuelos (Córdoba), for a total of 122 days during the period of high fire risk, its radius of action in automatic distribution being approximately 50,000 hectares in the northern area of the Hornachuelos Natural Park, north of the province of Córdoba, bordering that of Badajoz and a good part of the Sierra Norte Natural Park of Seville. However, this device could intervene in an extraordinary way in other regions of Andalusia. if the fire situation requires it or several simultaneous incidents are declared.
In addition to this helicopter, the province of Córdoba During the summer months, it has two grounded AT802 cargo planes based at Córdoba airport and two helicopters (a light Koala and another semi-heavy Bell 212) positioned respectively at the Forest Defense Center of Adamuz and Villaviciosa de Córdoba.
Antonio Sanz praised “Enresa’s involvement in the prevention and fight against fires in the province of Córdoba, where aerial means ensure coverage of an area of high ecological value“. In this sense, the advisor indicated that seven forest firefighters and an operations technician will be operational in El Cabril to be deployed if necessary.
For his part, the president of the public company indicated that “Enresa has collaborated for more than 30 years with the Junta de Andalucía, aware of the importance of conserving the environment where the facilities are located and ensuring the protection of the environment. own storage complex, located in a forest area«.
On the other hand, Infoca technical staff will be responsible for providing both theoretical and practical training in forest fire extinguishing to all Enresa workers having responsibilities in the field of fire. Thus, the sum of air assets and troops makes El Cabril another operational center of the Infoca system which, together with the Cedefo de Villaviciosa de Córdoba, protects almost 60 percent of Córdoba’s forest lands.
More air assets
In 2024, Infoca provided a total of 44 aircraft, the highest number in its history, including 37 chartered by the Council (14 aircraft and 23 helicopters), one the helicopter was supplied by the state company Enresaand six other state air assets (two amphibious aircraft, three semi-heavy helicopters and one light). It is worth highlighting the incorporation for the first time of four FireBosses, substitutes for Kamov helicopters, based at the Utrera (Seville) and La Resinera (Granada) airstrips. Those known as the “Zapatones” gave magnificent performances during the fires in which they participated.
The aeronautical market, in the firefighting sector, is very tense. The growing need for aircraft countries with forest fires This was an anecdotal problem and now they are recurring, causing demand to exceed supply, significantly increasing costs and allowing tenders to remain empty, as has happened. produced this year.
To avoid this situation, the Government of Andalusia has already launched a call for tenders for the acquisition of eight ground cargo planes, four light transport and extinguishing helicopters and others. four medium-heavy transport helicopters and extinction for the next five years, with a budget of 62.5 million euros.
In short, this new period of cooperation will be linked to several advances which will allow effective fight against forest firesin addition to focusing on several prevention measures.
