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Date Published: 17/04/2023

ARCHIVED - Forest fire surveillance system launched in the Region of Murcia

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The entire Region will be monitored through 20 strategic surveillance points until mid-October

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Forest fire surveillance system launched in the Region of Murcia

At the beginning of April, the regional authorities announced that its Sierra de la Pila helicopter, a key mechanism for preventing forest fires, would be launched almost two months early. A persistent lack of rain, coupled with high temperatures, have firefighters on high alert and on Sunday April 16, the entire surveillance network against wild fires in the Region of Murcia was initiated.

The Ministry of the Environment’s Infomur Plan considers this to be the ‘Medium Danger Period’, so 20 different infrastructures with the ability to monitor the entire Region have been distributed in strategic points and will remain in place until October 15, when things will hopefully begin cooling down.

Three people will man each of the 20 stations, and all of the personnel are highly trained in occupational risk prevention, communications, smoke detection and cartography.

“Forest fire rangers detect smoke with the help of directional binoculars that have a built-in compass to give the exact location of the smoke column,” explains the general director of Natural Environment, María Cruz Ferreira, who adds that they also have “cartography of the coverage area so that they can more accurately locate the fire and also offer more information, their greatest value being practical knowledge of the territory they are monitoring.”

All of the surveillance points have been improved in recent years: in 2022, the facilities of El Almirez in Lorca and Los Gavilanes in Yecla received a complete overhaul and later this year works will begin in La Castellana in Lorca and La Pila in Fortuna.

Over the coming months, rangers will continuously monitor the existing devices and if a fire is detected, its precise details will immediately be transmitted to the Murcia Region Operations Coordination Centre (CECOP) so that firefighters can be deployed to the area.

Speed is, of course, key and the surveillance personnel are skilled at detecting columns of smoke and other signs that an area may be at risk. They are also in constant contact with environmental officers, who are in place to warn about any illegal agricultural burning or campfires than may pose a danger.

Several forest fires have already broken out in the Region of Murcia this spring, forcing authorities to bring forward the launch of the prevention and surveillance plan.

See also: Lorca forest fire starter apprehended

Image: Gobierno de la Región de Murcia

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