Faced with increasingly extreme weather conditions, episodes of large fires will become more and more frequent. A complicated fire season is expected given the prolonged periods of drought and high temperatures caused by continuous heat waves.
Good forest management and a service that’s trained and equipped with all available tools is the only guarantee when dealing with wildland fires. We live in a dynamic world and, as a result, today’s fires are constantly evolving, becoming faster, more intense and more devastating all the time.
Aware of this reality and as a leading extinguishing force in Spain, the INFOCA Plan has added the Tactical Unit 1 to its fleet. This tactical module for light trucks is designed to handle any type of wildfire emergency. This module is a logistics solution that allows firefighters to move their “toolbox” to all the different places where they may need to work with different equipment. The Tactical Unit 1 has the capacity to carry the Dronster ground drone, a Heliskid, portable fire pumps, hand tools, protective and self-protection equipment as well as other tools.
Andalusia is a very expansive and diverse region in terms of vegetation and orography, so having a wide variety of tools makes it possible to handle all different types of fires. To understand this varied scenario, you just have to look at two pieces of data. On the one hand, Andalusia is the fourth autonomous region in Spain with the most kilometers of coastline (910 km). On the other hand, it’s also home to the highest peak on the Iberian Peninsula, Mulhacén (3,479 masl), which is higher than Aneto (3,404 masl), in Aragon, and Veleta Peak (3,396 masl), also in Sierra Nevada, Granada. This reality means changing wildfires, like the ones dominated by sea breezes, against which the speed of action provided by the Tactical Unit 1 and the mobility of all the available resources of the toolbox are key. You can also find fires high up in the mountains, where water availability is scarce and the hydraulic limit is quite the obstacle. In view of all this, the INFOCA Plan will now have the Heliskid, a tank of up to 3,000 L that can be moved with the tactical vehicle or a helicopter to perform direct attack operations or protection operations in remote places. It’s a toolbox full of operational tools adapted to all types of wildfire extinguishing situations.
Likewise, one of the consequences of today’s fires which devastate large areas —such as the Jubrique fire that burned 8,401 hectares in Sierra Bermeja last year— are the great stabilization, control and mop-up tasks they require. Large perimeter lines must be created by wildland firefighters despite the adverse weather conditions. The Dronster is the best ally for firefighters in such situations as it offers the benefits of heavy machinery without all the drawbacks. It can move quickly with the Tactical Unit 1 and help make control lines that would otherwise require several crews to complete. What’s more, it can carry material, whether backpacks full of extinguishing hoses, tools, fire pumps, PPE or provisioning. It’s a highly useful tool in all wildland fire phases: prevention, extinction and liquidation.
We would like to thank the Regional Government of Andalusia and the INFOCA Plan for their trust. Our mission is to offer modern, innovative and up-to-date equipment capable of dealing with today’s fires.
