The government delegate in the Canary Islands, Anselmo Pestana, accompanied by the subdelegates in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Javier Plata, and Las Palmas, Teresa Mayans, has today presided over a coordination meeting of the state media that will participate in the summer campaign against forest fires in the Archipelago, thus advancing the organization of the state device with respect to previous years.
This meeting, held in simultaneous connection between Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Madrid, was also attended by representatives of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies of the Ministry of the Interior, the Military Emergency Unit (UME), the State Meteorology Agency, the Civil Guard and the National Police.
“The Government of Spain pays particular attention to the needs of the Canary Islands in the fight against forest fires. Again, we demonstrated this with the deployment of fixed media in our islands that we saw last year, which, as always, can be joined by the rapid intervention of more media sent from the rest of the national territory,” says Anselmo Pestana.
“The work of forecasting the device and also in fire prevention is fundamental in the summer season. But it is also the coordination of the different administrations in the intervention in emergencies when they occur. In the Canary Islands we have a good example of this in recent years”, he adds.
Technical and human resources against forest fires
The permanent state device for the summer campaign, in which the Ministries of the Interior participate, for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, Defense and Territorial Policy, has a fixed means of intervention and reinforcement of surveillance distributed throughout the islands, such as the 150 troops of the Emergency Intervention Unit (UIEN) in the Canary Islands, which are distributed between the bases of Gar (Gran Canaria) and Los Rodeos (Tenerife).
The soldiers of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) deployed in fixed mode during the summer campaign in the Canary Islands operate distributed by squads, which are composed of 20 soldiers. The UME will have two drone teams with thermal cameras, 20 self-pump vehicles and 4 nodrizas with capacity for 3,500 and 13,500 liters each, respectively.
Also part of the device will be a Ground Cargo Aircraft (ACT) with a capacity of 3,100 liters, which will have its base in La Gomera, and two helicopters type Bell 412 or SOKOL on the island of Tenerife.
In addition, in La Palma the Puntagorda Forest Fire Reinforcement Brigades (BRIF) have two 1,200-litre Biturbina transport and extinguishing helicopters with helibalde and are composed of 3 brigades of 17 personnel each, a total of 51 fighters.
In case of need, as has already happened previously, the fixed air resources present in the Canary Islands can be added to the movement of FOCA aircraft from other parts of the national territory, with a cargo capacity of 5,500 liters.
Surveillance and prevention in a Madrid-Canary Islands collaborative axis
The deployment of the BRIF, the four helicopters and the ACT aircraft will be directed, if necessary, by the Sub-Directorate General for Forestry Policy and Combating Desertification of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, which will also attend to a possible request from the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands in case of need of a reinforcement of these means.
In addition, within the framework of the Security Group, the personnel of the State Security Forces and Corps present throughout the Archipelago will participate, among other functions, in the strengthening of fire surveillance and investigation through the SEPRONA units of the Civil Guard, which have their own drones, and through the air units of the Civil Guard.
Likewise, the National Police makes available to the possible forest fires that may be registered in the Canary Islands this summer the agents of the Police Intervention Unit (UIP) and the Citizen Security Units, as well as a helicopter and its drone unit.
For its part, the Territorial Delegation of the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) will issue notices corresponding to meteorological phenomena and high temperatures, as well as prediction bulletins on demand of the administration that requires it both for extreme conditions and for any emergency declaration.
The Civil Protection Unit of the Delegation of the Government in the Canary Islands and the Subdelegation of the Government in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, under the functional unit of the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies of the Ministry of the Interior, which is responsible, in turn, for monitoring the situation through the National Centre for Monitoring and Coordination of Emergencies (CENEM), which will remain active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, participates in a very active way in the device of the summer campaign against fires established by the State in the Canary Islands.
By requesting it through the General Directorate of Civil Protection and Emergencies of the Ministry of the Interior, the services of Civil Protection and fire fighting can also count on the Copernicus system, the European Earth observation service.