Before summer, the Formentera Council's office of infrastructure will equip the towns of Sant Ferran and Es Pujols with 15 new lampposts, and a total of 24 lights. According to department head Rafael González, in recent weeks municipal crews have installed nine streetlamps along two Sant Ferran streets, carrers Sol and Castaví, “where the Citroën is located”.

Saying the crews' work would precede the start of the upcoming tourist season, the councillor detailed plans to install seven new lampposts “near the Sant Ferran roundabout, (along camí de Ses Vinyes), between carrers Tarragona i de Sa Finca” as well as “three more on camí de Cala en Baster.

Work in Es Pujols

In Es Pujols, the public works will include three new lampposts “on carrer King Crimson, at the Es Pujols chemists” and two more “on camí de Can Jaume d'en Sala, expanding on last year's installation of three streetlamps there”.

Said Councillor González, “this came at the petition of local residents, who requested improvements to the outdoor public lighting on the island”. González stated the total cost of the instalation was approximately €30,000.

The chief of the tax office and administrations of the Govern Balear, Catalina Cladera, together with the Balearic administration's director general of budgets and financing, Joan Carrió, joined Formentera Council president Jaume Ferrer to unveil the budgets allocated by the autonomous community. The presentation – titled Pressupostos de la Comunitat Autònoma de les Illes Balears – took place this afternoon at the Council's head office.

Cladera said the budgets invest heavily in «social services, education, public health and employment policies». Carrió highlighted a 2016 budget which will include 2.8 million euros to begin construction of the primary school in Sant Ferran. According to the budgets and financing head, the 2017 portion of the budget will contain another 3.7m to pay off the remaining costs. Carrió put completion of the building in time «for the beginning of the 2017-2018 school year».

The CiF president thanked his counterparts for having made the trip in person, calling it «something we haven't seen in the last four years». He expressed his satisfaction at seeing «building works for the Sant Ferran school finally included in the budget». The Council had reiterated its appeal repeatedly over the years and the issue was the line in the sand which determined the administration's support for this year's budget.

Another request, though also important for the Council, was not heeded. The CiF had asked Palma to accept responsibility for 100% of the costs — estimated at one million euros — associated with transferring waste from Formentera to Eivissa. The budgets unveiled today by the Govern Balear officials, however, only allocate 300,000€. President Ferrer assured an amendment would be presented to restate the Council's petition.

Presidential cabinet councillor Bartomeu Escandell and chief of the fire brigade (els Bombers de Formentera) Iván Marí stood before members of the press today to report on the brigade’s work this year since January. As Escandell highlighted, the work of Formentera’s local firefighters deserves all the more merit this year because «despite the unusually dry weather, we were able to avert any major fires». The councillor also extended his thanks to the Ibanat (Institut Balear de la Natura), local civil protection services, the Guárdia Civil and the Formentera local police, as well as the island’s water transport companies for allowing the brigade to use their fleets at different times throughout the year.

Councillor Escandell reminded reporters of the Formentera Council’s collaboration on wildfire risk awareness campaigns devised to teach the «little steps that people can take – not throwing cigarette butts out the window – to prevent tragedies from happening in our region». The Council also takes part in other outreach campaigns, explained Escandell, like one last year that expounded the importance of creating barriers to stop flames from spreading around houses that border Formentera’s heavily-wooded areas.

A hectare of scorched land
For his part, brigade chief Marí reported that from the start of the year until 30 September his firefighters have been called into duty 102 times, five more than the same period last year. Of those incidents, 27 were fires. Seventeen of the fires were in areas of shrubbery or other vegetation – a common occurrence, he assured, during a year «made especially dangerous by the dry spell».

The brigade predicts this year nearly one hectare of land has been burned, with blazes in the majority of those incidents caused by still-lit cigarette ends. Marí called Formentera’s recent rains «a welcome change», but asserted: «We need to remain vigilant. The wildfire risk on the island is always there».

Special vigilance in Es Ram area
Among the firefighters’ different calls to duty this summer, especially harrowing was the trio of wildfires that swept through the same area of Es Ram in mid and late July. In consequence, the brigade coordinated regular passes through that part of the island throughout the summer, splitting the work between the Bombers, Protecció Civil (civil protection services) and Ibanat crews.

Els Bombers de Formentera comprise four staff members: two full-time, one part-time and a fourth who is on-call. They have a fleet of vehicles which consists of a pickup truck and two fire engines – as Councillor Escandell notes, «the Council opted for rapid-response – and not especially large – vehicles in its goal for effective fire control». He reminded the audience at the press conference that, barring any changes, the official high-risk period of the summer season will end 15 October. Pursuant to the municipal code, after that date controlled fires will once again be permitted.

The Formentera fire brigade classified as “under control” a wildfire that broke out next to a eight-metre-long motor home and its neighbouring patio. Before being put out, the flames had burned through a total of 150 square metres, nine of which were laden with Savina junipers.

Notice of the fire came at 10:54 in the evening from an off-shoot of the Es Brolls country road in Sant Ferran and by one in the morning firefighters declared the blaze under control. Brigade members, who declared the cause of the incident to be unknown, highlighted that no injuries were reported. At the scene of the emergency were three Formentera firefighters, members of the local police, civil protection forces, the Guárdia Civil and Ibanat.