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Fire brigade holds drills in Es Ram area of Formentera

simulacre2This afternoon, the Formentera fire brigade, together with the Formentera and Eivissa IBANAT (Institut Balear de la Natura) teams and staff from the offices of environment of both Formentera and the Govern Balear all came together to participate in different drills aimed at coordinating the island's different firefighting forces. The workers had use of the fire brigade's helicopter and were joined by a special division of IBANAT Eivissa for a series of exercises that took place in the Es Ram neighbourhood of la Mola.

On hand for the different exercises, which consisted in a forest fire simulation in a heavily-wooded area of the island, were the Formentera Council's two fire brigade trucks, the five firefighters employed by the Council, an IBANAT Formentera ground crew comprising one rapid-response vehicle and five operators, as well as a helicopter for use in wildfires and two other personnel from the environment office and IBANAT. Also present were ten volunteer members of Formentera's Civil Protection services, who had use of a rapid-response vehicle and one vehicle for transport, along with one member of personnel from the CiF office of environment.

The goal of the drills was to prepare the different firefighting crews of the island for a fire in a forested area. The simulations included the removal of one service member—a frequent occurrence due to accidents—, manoeuvres with fire screens and hoses, as well as drills that reproduced being physically trapped by fire.

The Formentera fire brigade carry out drills every Monday to prepare for the different emergencies that commonly occur. “The idea is to gain a certain amount of ease handling the brigade's equipment,” explained chief firefighter Iván Marí of the Bombers de Formentera, “and put ourselves in situations that later can be applied to real emergencies”.