Andalucía has activated the ‘high risk wildfire season’ early

5/17/23, 9:10 AM By Costas News Costa del Sol

After a meeting between the advisory committee of Plan Infoca, the Junta's specialist wildfire prevention and fire fighting brigade, and the regional government minister Antonio Sanz on Friday, (12 May), a decision has been made to bring forward the start of the extreme risk season for forest fires in Andalucía to today (May 17^th) instead of June 1^st.

This means there is now a public ban in place for having bonfires and barbecues until at least October 15^th across the region in the south of Spain.

Sanz said that the measures were approved because "even though we have forecasts of some possible rain in the eastern area of the province, the dry spring and high temperatures are not giving any respite".

The Minister has urged the public to follow the measures, saying: "They will come to nothing if the public do not help us. Everyone must adopt a responsible attitude in forest areas, avoid acting negligently, and phone the 112 emergency number in the event of any sighting of smoke or flames.

This comes as the Plan Infoca budget for 2023 has been increased to 223 million euros, which is 27% more than last year. A total of 17 new fire engines will also come into service in Andalucía, replacing those in poorer condition and adding to the 117 units already in operation.

There will also be a new ground 'drone', the first of its kind in Spain, capable of entering the fire zone to help extinguish the blaze, without putting the lives of firefighters at risk.

The new features join those already announced in recent weeks, such as EsAlert or "reverse 112", a tool that allows mass messages to be sent directly to the mobile phones of the population near to a serious fire. The messages will be sent out in Spanish and English.

Last year, there were a total of 21,728 calls to the 112 emergency line to advise of forest fire outbreaks. So far, there have been 6,607 calls from January to April this year, which is 54.73% more than in the first four months of 2022.