And forest fire is that one fire that spreads uncontrollably through forest land that was not intended to burn. to the obvious 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 to be addressed by civil protection and emergency services.
According to the statistics of forest fires in Spain, they produce media some 17,000 forest fires (most of them smaller than 1ha.) affecting some 114,000ha of forest area. Of them, according to the records of the 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 deaths, injuries, cuts to communication routes and services, and damaged infrastructure.
The Council of Ministers, at the proposal of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO)approved this Tuesday the processing of a service contract with aerial means to support the autonomous communities in the extinction of forest fires for the years 2025, 2026 and 2027 for an estimated value of 187.685.854,06 euros.
This service is added to the aerial device owned by the General State Administration, made up of 14 Canadair amphibious aircraft, with a water discharge capacity of 5,500 liters per aircraft..
The purpose of the file being processed is to regulate the provision of a forest fire extinguishing service.tendered by open procedure, with 26 brigade transport and water drop 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:
- Support autonomous communities in extinguishing forest fires by launching water both in initial attack and in extended attack.
- Transport the components of the forest fire reinforcement brigades (BRIF) as indicated, to participate in extinction work.
- Throw water on fires in order to support ground personnel which participates in extinction, delaying ignition and reducing their intensity.
The support that MITECO gives to the different regions in large forest fires is operational all year round.thus being able to meet the needs regardless of the time of year in which a forest fire may start, a necessary characteristic in state reinforcement, given the consequences of climate change.
He MITECO attends to requests for support from the autonomous communities and coordinates fire response 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 state fleet of amphibious aircraft that fight forest fires. Currently the fleet is made up of 14 amphibious aircraft, of which 11 are owned by MITECO and three by the Ministry of Defense.. All of them are managed jointly, as a single fleet, organically depending on Defense and functionally on Ecological Transition; which decides on its actions based on the risk of fire and at the request of the autonomous communities.