Forest fire alert is high in Mallorca.

Forest fire alert is high in Mallorca. | Majorca Daily Bulletin reporter

Humphrey CarterPalma13/04/2023 13:21
TW
0

Storm Juliette which hit the Balearics at the end of last February may well have improved the water resources but it has heightened the risk of forest fires due to the numerous trees that it blew down (an estimated 1.4 million). Joan Santana, head of Environment Ministry’s Forestry Management Service and Oriol Domènech, forestry engineer and technician with the same department, claim that “with a March in which it has hardly rained, all the plant fuel created by Juliette is drying up.

"It is already hot and all this means that, in the event of forest fires, they will burn more intensely, spread faster and extinction will be more difficult”.

Related news
The mayor of Palma visiting the reservoirs in Mallorca

Mallorca reservoirs almost back to full capacity

More related news

The Balearic Nature Institute (Ibanat) is still working to remove as much of the plant debris caused by Juliette as possible from the firebreaks, and from forest roads to facilitate vehicle access in the event of fires. Santana and Domènech said that “ the effects of a storm like Juliette make restoration work and fire fighting extremely difficult. With a large, dry biomass, it would be very difficult to extinguish a fire.”

As a result, the ministry has considered bringing forward the period of high risk of forest fires, which begins on 1 May.
Juliette seriously affected a large part of the islands, but in the case of Mallorca there are three main areas where action has been prioritised: Caimari-Lluc, the area around Lluc and the area between Lluc and Soller.