XÀBIA BEGINS TO DRAFT A NEW MUNICIPAL PLAN FOR THE PREVENTION OF FOREST FIRES
The document will establish measures to reduce the risk of fires and provide better means for fire-fighting.
Feb 22nd 2017
Xàbia has begun to work on a new municipal forest fire prevention plan, to face up to the potential risk of the losses that the actual urban lay-out of the municipality poses, particularly where it affects areas with a high housing density.
The Town Hall has engaged Medi XXI Gabinet de Solucions Integrals, a specialist and recognised Valencian company to assist in the process. Today they gave a presentation to all the organisations involved in this challenging issue (Firemen, Local and National Police, Guardia Civil , Forest Brigades, Civil Protection, Balcón al Mar Volunteer Firefighters, the Red Cross, the various municipal departments and officials of the Montgó natural park) to explain their requirements and to make an initial contact.
Ferran Dalmau, the engineer responsible, explained that as Xàbia has 2,500 hectares of forest, it is necessary to focus on the areas of urban/forest interface (areas of contact between forest zones and urbanisations) and assume that for varying reasons (intentional, weather conditions, negligence, etc.) that there will be fires and that it is everyone's responsibility to be prepared to deal with them.
Dalmau spoke about the four key areas that need to be assessed: planning, forestry management- both from the public administration side and also from the citizens themselves applying new concepts such as pyrogardening – a good supply of hydrants and the creation of firewalls and training citizens so that in the event of a fire that they are helpful and do not hinder the work of the professionals.
The specialist stressed the need to "invest in the green so as not to spend in the black" meaning that it is much more profitable for society to allocate public money to take care of the mountains rather than later have to spend great sums of money in fire-fighting (he revealed that the deployment of resources in Xàbia when the Granadella was burning cost about 600,000 euros per day).
Medi XXI explained that the technical measures they propose are primarily good practices and are directed both to reducing the causes of fire risks and to increasing the means to extinguish them.
At the meeting the Mayor, José Chulvi, thanked everyone present for their involvement and stated that after the last fires Xàbia Town Hall is even more aware of the need to be as prepared as possible in the event of fires and that these preparations must extend not only to the Administration and to the personnel who are mobilised to fight the fires, but also to the residents of urbanisations which coexist with forested areas.
He highlighted, that after the initial phase of collection of technical information, the company will begin to work with our citizens to give them the necessary tools, so that, in the event of a fire, they become part of the solution and not the problem.
Chulvi also stated that this year there will a new training course for volunteers in Xàbia, to learn about fire-fighting and that they will be provided with more equipment, in part thanks to the many donations received from citizens.
Lastly, the mayor explained that as a result of the previous work carried out in respect of this emergency prevention plan, it was decided to merge into a single council department the responsibility for Citizen Security and Civil Protection, with the strategy of improving the coordination between professional bodies and volunteers. The councillor responsible for this unit will be Pepa Gisbert.
The former Councillor for Civil Protection, José Luis Luengo will be released from part of his responsibilities and will assume together with transport the Thiviers suburb and responsibilities related to the occupation of the public highway and the control of fords and municipal plots.
From Jose Chulvi Facebook
