The Community is strengthening its Infomur Plan operations in response to the increased risk of fires and extending aerial surveillance until the end of October.
The surveillance device mobilizes more than 450 people daily between June 1 and September 30.
Last summer, 83 forest fires broke out, affecting 69.4 hectares of land.
This year, the regional government has expanded its forest fire surveillance capabilities. In addition to the permanent surveillance posts in key natural areas and patrols with pairs of Civil Protection volunteers on mobile surveillance, the helicopter also dedicated to this task will be in service for another month, until October.
The Regional Minister for Water, Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries, Environment, and Emergencies, Antonio Luengo, today presented the operation of the Emergency Civil Protection Plan for the prevention and extinction of forest fires in the Region of Murcia (Infomur Plan) for the high-risk period, which begins today and ends on September 30. The main new feature is that the surveillance and coordination helicopter will be in service until the end of October.
For the councilor, the expansion of the surveillance system "is a very important improvement, as it increases our ability to detect fires as soon as they occur, which facilitates their rapid extinction." Furthermore, he noted that it also "acts as a deterrent" to those who intend to threaten the integrity of forest areas, "without forgetting the necessary coordination role when there is a fire involving several aerial resources."
For surveillance, the Infomur Plan provides 20 fixed posts strategically distributed throughout the region's main natural areas, 34 pairs of Civil Protection volunteers from 32 municipalities on mobile surveillance, and a surveillance and coordination helicopter capable of transmitting real-time images to the Coordination Center.
The fire is being extinguished by 19 forestry brigades, four rapid response brigades, 11 municipal emergency response brigades, firefighters from the Murcia Region Fire and Rescue Consortium and the municipal firefighting services of the city councils of Murcia and Cartagena, three helicopters with their respective heli-transported forestry brigades, and a bomber helicopter from the State Administration.
These units will be coordinated by firefighting technicians, environmental agents, base area coordinators, operations managers, and information officers.
21 forest fires this year.
So far this year, from January 1 to May 22, 21 forest fires have broken out in the Region of Murcia, affecting 4.91 hectares of forest land. 19 of these were incipient, and only two exceeded one hectare of land. Both occurred in January in the municipalities of Archena and Ceutí. In 2021, there were 83 forest fires, affecting a total of 69.4 hectares of land.
English 
Spanish