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THERE were no fatal traffic accidents over the New year, although the government's 112 emergency service received 850 calls between midnight and 9am yesterday, and the fire brigade, ambulence service and local police attended to 150 emergencies typical of the time of year. A spokesman said that there was the usual number of traffic accidents of no serious consequences, and they also had to deal with people who had eaten or drunk too much, and public disorder, or vandalism. The head of the service expressed his satisfaction has to how the night had passed and said that the number of cases handled was up ten per cent from last year. He described the number of calls made to the service as high, but added that this showed that the population was aware of the emergency service and knew how to use it.

The peak period for calls was between 3am and 4pm.
Everything ran perfectly, Soria said, and there was no collapse in the services at all, showing that they had made prevision for sufficient workers to cope with all possible incidents. One of the most striking incidents, he said, was a fire which broke out in some trees close to Marivent Palace, and which was quickly extinguished, and another fire in a flat in Palma's Conde de Sallent, but nobody was injured as the flat was empty at the time..

Soria also said that the situation at the airport and hospitals had been normal. Most of the calls received by the ambulance brigade were to help people burned by firecrackers and fireworks set off to welcome in the New Year. The first service of this type answered by 112 was at eight minutes after midnight, to help a man from Palma when a firecracker exploded in his face. GESA, the gas and electricity board reported that thre had been no incidents in the service, with no interruptions in either the gas or electricity supplies. GESA supplies electricity to 550'000 users in the Balearics and piped gas to a further 70'000.