The Military Emergency Unit (UME) will be in charge of the defense of the Malaga municipalities of Jubrique and Genalguacil, whose population has been evicted preventively this Sunday by the new fire caused by a pavesa of the previous one, as announced this Sunday by the deputy director of the Regional Operational Center of Infoca (COR), Alejandro García, who has declared that the Sierra Bermeja fire is “unusual in our country.”
This has been highlighted by the extinction director, who has reported from the Estepona Advanced Command Post on the evolution of the aforementioned fire, declared last Wednesday and which remains active, together with the counselor of the Presidency, Public Administration and Interior, Elías Bendodo; the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Sustainable Development, Carmen Crespo, and the Subdelegate of the Government in Malaga, Javier Salas.
Garcia has questioned why this decision was adopted this Sunday, as well as reported that Since level 2 was declared, the door was opened to extraordinary State resources and other autonomous communities. In addition, during his speech he stressed that the fire that has affected Sierra Bermeja since last Wednesday is “unusual in our country.”
“We started using the support of the Ministry’s air resources, to which the Ministry responded wonderfully and today – this Sunday – we have made an extraordinary activation: the UME, which comes to support the Infoca Plan in this new fire “.
“All the resources of the Infoca Plan were more than enough, even with the relays and with the new fire – due to the fireworks– this support from the UME is advisable“, has clarified the deputy director of the COR, who has added that there are two platoons that are incorporated into the forest fire in Sierra Bermeja and that their mission will be the defense of Jubrique and Genalguacil.
He has also alluded to the activation of the FAST (Forest Fires Assessment and Advisory Team), teams of specialists designed to support other countries but which, as seen in the fire in Ávila, “serves to formalize collaboration” with other communities.
Within the FAST, it has been requested from the operational direction of Infoca the arrival of technical and human radiosonde teams and whose arrival is expected around 8:00 p.m. and that allows extrapolate information from nearby weather stations.
The second request is a team of specialists in the use of heavy machinery, that “is very limited in this fire by the abrupt orography but we know of specialists who can join “, as stated by Alejandro García, COR deputy director and director of Fire Extinction, Alejandro García.
The COR’s deputy director explained that the four main areas of activity on which the troops had been working “have gone reasonably well”, although “supervening circumstances ”have generated a new fire in the area.
As you have detailed, “some pavesas have generated a new fire in Sierra Bermeja“That, although during the last hours of the night and the first hours of the morning they were independent,” finally the closest fronts have joined even crossing a valley that had already burned more than a month ago ”.
“We are talking about a power and an unusual force for the fires that we are used to to see in our country ”, underlined the Extinction Director and COR deputy director of the Infoca Plan on the Sierra Bermeja fire.
For his part, the Minister of the Presidency regretted that the fire has had a “negative evolution during the night”Due to the circumstance explained by the deputy director of the COR of the Infoca Plan, although he pointed out that“the planned works that were raised during yesterday afternoon were being effective ”.
“The objectives set have been met overnight, but the meteorological circumstances make us have a new fire due to the jump of a cloud of crayfish towards the other area of the Almarcha river and that supposes that the situation is very complicated ”, added Bendodo before indicating that the union of the two fires has forced the preventive eviction of the towns of Genalguacil and Jubrique.
However, the head of the branch has ensured that in the area “we continue working with all means, air and land, against fire ”.