There have been five forest fires so far this year, burning 14.25 hectares of the park: one in Les Corts, one in Horta-Guinardó and three in the district of Nou Barris.
The information sessions start today with a morning meeting at the District Office for Sarrià – Sant Gervasi, a pioneer in requesting this type of meeting, and an afternoon session at the District Office for Les Corts. The sessions will be attended by local residents’ associations and various organisations linked to the park.
The goal is to discuss the management of forest fires and the role of the Barcelona Fire Service in the preventing and putting out fires. The idea is also to raise awareness among citizens about their key role in preventing fires and minimising the possible consequences.
In this respect, even though the emergency services have more accumulated experience and are more resilient, the best way to tackle forest fires is to prevent them from happening, as in most cases they are caused by human activity.
All the mountain neighbourhoods have self-protection plans (PAU), which will be explained in the meetings. These plans offer details by neighbourhood of how to respond in the case of a fire so that local people know who to turn to and how to react efficiently, even how to evacuate residents should this be necessary.
Those attending the sessions will also get information about the operational response to these types of fires by the fire service and the tasks carried out as part of the forest fire campaign, which was activated on 7 June. During the campaign, operational resources are bolstered for the summer months to provide a swift and efficient response to possible forest fires: operating routes for prevention, checks to fire hydrants and water resources etc.