At 2.00 pm today Bartomeu Escandell, councillor of the CiF president's office, together with local lifeguard service chief Javier Asensio and service coordinator Sergi Martín attended a presentation by the emergency services of the Govern Balear concerning beach safety. Presided over by the Govern's director of emergency services Joan Pol Pujol, the presentation was hosted at the Formentera Council and was the eighteenth such gathering to date. The yearly pre-summer gathering aimed at educating staff and department heads on the evolving nature of water safety services was also attended by Vicente Soria, director of 112 emergency services, and Vicent Ferrer, officer of Eivissa emergency services.
The Govern officials spoke about the proper classification of swimming areas and of the requirement that medium- and high-risk beaches have a transmitter system in place. Similar systems must also be used at low-risk beaches with on-duty lifeguards and at beaches where there exist “multiple and conflicting uses” that could pose a threat. It was also reported that such transmitter systems are required at beaches and swimming areas where both watercraft and swimmers are present.
As for the hours of lifeguard services, timetables must be adapted to the area in question, the meteorological conditions at play and use patterns at each beach.
Further, on beaches with lifeguard services, summertime seaside concessionaires must also employ staff trained in lifesaving in the event that lifeguards require additional assistance during normal service hours.
Likewise, if a concession's hours of operation extend beyond the range of normal lifeguard service, staff of the waterfront concession are responsible for providing first-aid to beach users until emergency services arrive.
Among other topics discussed by officials were procedural improvements made regarding communication between the Govern's waterfront planning services and 112 emergency services.
Today at noon, CiF president Jaume Ferrer and councillors of both the governing and opposition parties were joined by Council employees and island residents for a minute of silence to express their grief following the attacks on Brussels yesterday, 22 March.
The Formentera Council (CiF) Junta de Portaveus, a committee formed by spokespeople from each political party with Council representation, and Jaume Ferrer, president of the CiF, held a meeting to discuss the Balearic port authority (APB) and Ajuntament d'Eivissa-backed proposal to site the Formentera ferry station in the port of Vila.
At a meeting today between Formentera Council president Jaume Ferrer and Jaume Escandell, president of the Formentera farmers' cooperative (la Cooperativa del Camp), the two officials put their signatures on a joint action accord that Ferrer said is designed to «continue the rollout of the farmland reserve (Cens de Terres) and other projects to redevelop local farming and improve the Formentera countryside».
Consell de Formentera (CiF) president Jaume Ferrer and Paco Pérez, president of the Associació Cultural Audiovisual de Formentera (ACAF), have put their signatures on a joint action plan on content production at the island's public radio station, Ràdio Illa. The signing took place today at 12 midday in the plenary hall of the local administration.
