Greater measures to prevent forest fires- A new helicopter control centre at Son Bonet

The Palma authorities warn the locals and tourists about the dangers of forest fires in Majorca this summer. Due to the little rain we have had during the winter these dangers increase and we have to be extremely careful as 85% of forest fires are caused by human action- intentionally or non-intentionally.

During the past years there have been numerous devastating forest fires in the Balearics, eating up thousands of hectares of our beautiful landscape. The authorities have increased the measures of security in order to reduce these alarming figures. The Balearic Institute of Nature has three planes that load from earth, four helicopters, an amphibian plane, and a coordinating aircraft spread along the archipelago. On land there are 22 vigilance points, 6 control vehicles, and 9 emergency vehicles as well as 3 brigades ready to go wherever needed.

The measures of security have improved during the years, and although the forest fires are unpredictable the time taken to put them off has improved. Having all these measures is still not enough and the Palma government has spent 100,000 Euros on a new helicopter base at the old Son Bonet airport, and a number of surveillance cameras in fire-prone areas. A new base is ready to be inaugurated and start working in Ibiza.

The specialists do all they can to prevent these disasters from happening, however, the population is who really needs to take care and action. One should be careful about what they throw where, where they set up fires (especially on the summer season), where they drop fag-ends, etc½ because any of these careless actions could result in tremendous forest fires.