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 and the incorporation of more aerial means is expected.
The Minister of the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue and Administrative Simplification, Antonio Sanz, and the president of Enresa, José Luis Navarro, have signed a collaboration agreement between both institutions at the San Telmo Palace to promote prevention and control measures against forest fires in Andalusia. The director of the El Cabril storage center, Eva Noguero, also attended the event.
Tenacious fight against forest fires
The purpose of this agreement has been to renew cooperation between both entities. As a result of this agreement, Enresa will provide a light transport and firefighting helicopter, the crew and mechanics, as well as the helipad and the appropriate 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.
Specifically, the aerial vehicle will remain positioned in El Cabril, in Hornachuelos (Córdoba), for a total of 122 days within the period of high fire risk, with its radius of action in automatic dispatch being about 50,000 hectares in the northern area of the Park. Natural of Hornachuelos, north of the province of Córdoba bordering that of Badajoz and a good part of the Sierra Norte de Seville Natural Park. However, this device may intervene in an extraordinary way in other parts 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 cargo planes on the ground AT802 based at the Córdoba Airport and two helicopters (a light Koala and another semi-heavy Bell 212) positioned at the Forest Defense Center of Adamuz and Villaviciosa de Córdoba, respectively.
Antonio Sanz has applauded “Enresa’s involvement in the prevention and fight against fires in the province of Córdoba, where the aerial medium provides coverage to an area of high ecological value«. In this sense, the counselor has reported that seven forest firefighters and an operations technician will be operational in El Cabril for deployment if necessary.
For his part, the president of the public company has indicated that “Enresa has been collaborating with the Junta de Andalucía for more than 30 years, aware of the importance of conserving the environment where the facilities are located and providing protection to the own storage complex, located in a forest area«.
On the other hand, Infoca’s technical staff will be in charge of providing both theoretical and practical training in forest fire extinguishing to all Enresa workers with responsibilities in the fire area. Thus, the sum of the aerial means and the troops turns El Cabril into another operational center for the Infoca device that, together with the Cedefo of Villaviciosa de Córdoba, protects almost 60 percent of the forest land in Córdoba.
More aerial means
In 2024, Infoca has provided a total of 44 aircraft, the largest number in its history, of which 37 were chartered by the Board (14 airplanes and 23 helicopters), a helicopter was provided by the public company Enresaand six other aerial means of the State (two amphibious aircraft, three semi-heavy helicopters and one light). It is worth highlighting the incorporation for the first time of four FireBoss, substitutes for the Kamov helicopters, based on the Utrera (Seville) and La Resinera (Granada) landing strips. Those known as ‘Zapatones’ have given magnificent performance in the fires in which they have participated.
The aeronautical market, in the firefighting branch, is very tense. The growing need for aircraft in countries where forest fires They were an anecdotal issue and now they are recurring, it causes demand to be greater than supply, increasing costs significantly and making it possible for tenders to remain empty, as has happened this year.
To avoid this situation, the Government of Andalusia has already put out to tender the lots for the contracting of eight cargo planes on the ground, four light transport and extinction 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 that will allow a effective fight against forest firesin addition to betting on several prevention measures.