Formentera firefighters continue working today to control the forest fire that began yesterday shortly after 4.00pm in Cala Saona, es Cap de Barbaria. From the first site of flames till 2.00am the following morning, seven firemen with two fire engines and two pick-ups toiled to put out the blaze. Two men took the reins after that and carried on till 9.00am, when four more took up the charge.

Having earlier declared the blaze to be stabilised, the two agencies responsible for coordinating fire control efforts—the Balearic institute of nature (Ibanat) and the Govern balear's ministry of environment—reported the blaze controlled at 11.30pm. In the process they deployed five planes, three helicopters, one fire engine, 17 firefighters, two environmental agents and two staff specialists. From Betera, València, members of Spain's military emergency unit (UME) arrived as twilight approached.

In total, 10.2 hectares were affected by the flames, which crews will continue soaking this morning and in the coming hours and days. On the scene this morning are the firefighting chief, four Eivissa and three Formentera wildland firefighters, four Formentera firefighters and nineteen UME operators. The UME, in addition to an environmental agent and an urgent response staffer, has at its disposal three fire engines.

Formentera Council chairman Jaume Ferrer as well as the chief of staff of Mr Ferrer's office, Bartomeu Escandell, and environment councillor Daisee Aguilera visited ground zero of the scene yesterday afternoon. Escandell returned there today and thanked crews—including 15 volunteers from the civil protection league, local police, Guardia Civil and other emergency response teams—for their work. Another wildfire struck the area on May 20 and scorched 14 hectares of forest. The Civil Guard is leading an investigation into the cause of the incident.

The Formentera Council president's office reports today on upcoming plans to celebrate ten years in government. At 8.00pm on Monday, July 10, the administration will stage a commemorative ceremony in the plenary hall of the island's care centre for dependent persons. Council chair Jaume Ferrer invited the entire island to come out for what he called “a tenth-anniversary event and a look back at how we got started and where we've been in ten years”.

Attendees will hear from former mayor Isidor Torres, the man who helmed Formentera's Ajuntament (a representative body later replaced by the locally-run Consell, or "council") as well as the Formentera official who presided over that period of administrative overhaul, Pep Mayans, and the current Council's first chairman, Jaume Ferrer. The event will include musical entertainment from Aires Formenterencs and refreshments.

The Formentera Council was incorporated on July 10, 2007, forty-five days after islanders cast their ballots in a May 27 election. Another milestone that year was the March 1 publication of Spain's official bulletin, the BOE. Appearing in the bulletin was an updated version of a regional document known as the Estatut (“statute”) of the Balearic Islands, which split the Formentera Council and the Eivissa Council into two distinct entities. The previous version of the Balearic statute, issued in 1983, had created one single council to govern both islands.