Given the increase in cases of vegetation cover fires in the city, the District Administration, through the Dagrd, begins the implementation of a contingency plan. Among the actions stands out contracting flight hours with bambi bucket to reinforce the response when necessary. Each drop from the helicopter, which ranges from 270 to 600 gallons of water, saves between three and five hours of work for fire fighting units on the ground.
This year, The Official Medellin Fire Department has dealt with 97 vegetation cover fires, five of them in the last hours in sectors such as Villa Hermosa, La Honda, El Picacho, Las Tinajas and Moravia. The first two had the support of the Colombian Air Force, which unloaded 4,000 gallons of water in nine flights.
Faced with an increase in vegetation cover fires, Medellín initiates a contingency plan
“The District initiates a contingency plan to strengthen the response to these events. In recent weeks we have seen how the El Niño phenomenon has been consolidating, which, given the reports from Ideam, there is talk of 60% being moderate”, said the director of Dagrd, Laura Duarte.
In the same way, The plan includes drone flights in sensitive areas of vegetation cover fires for monitoring with thermal cameras. In this same sense, the information issued by the Siata project will be articulated to make decisions, in real time, that protect and safeguard the lives of citizens and preserve the vegetation cover.
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“From the District we began to make an articulation and enlistment of relief organizationsentities such as the National Army, the Colombian Air Force, the Ponalsal team of the National Police, the Civil Defense, the Red Cross and with the volunteer fire brigades of the Metropolitan Area that also adds to this support”, concluded the director Laura Duarte.