‘Floating fire escape’ planned for Jávea bay
Granadella inferno in 2016 led to thousands fleeing their homes, but if it happens again, up to 600 could reach safety on huge platform
A GIANT inflatable platform with space for up to 600 people is to be set up in Jávea's Granadella bay to evacuate residents in the event of another massive forest fire like those of September 2014 and 2016.
Hundreds of villas along this remote part of the coast were threatened in the second of these, with the occupants of over 1,400 properties having to flee their homes.
But depending upon where a fire spreads to, a similar, future disaster could leave their houses surrounded and block off the winding road down the mountain to the town centre and safety.
Also, sunseekers could become trapped on the beach if the entrance is left impassable due to the flames – as was the case with a blaze in the year 2000.
Risk management company
Medi XXI has been working on solutions to help prevent a recurrence of these apocalyptic wildfires – including low-density plants to replace scrub near the villas – and emergency measures in case all else fails.
The most novel of these is a huge floating ‘fire escape’, with covered stations to provide shelter, food and drink and, if necessary, medical attention to evacuees, over 700 life jackets, and tow-ropes to enable it to be drawn close to the beach and then pulled away from land.
It will then be directed around the bay to the nearest safe port.
Measuring 30 metres by 25m, the platform, designed by SideInfo, will cost just under €171,000 to create and set up.
Other, more conventional steps being taken include detailed maps, analysis of combustion types, existing escape routes and locations where new evacuation corridors could feasibly be set up.
Other precautions
Medi XXI proposes new bylaws, including a ban on setting off fireworks or releasing Thai lamps, prohibiting plants in private gardens that could be flammable if they wither and die out, and a requirement to set up 'safe zones' in their houses where smoke cannot enter and occupants can confine themselves.
Fire hydrants with hoses should be installed in the bays, along with a 'low-combustion risk zone' in Calle Pic Tort in the Granadella – about 10 to 12 acres of scrubland cleared away and replaced with fire-retardant species of pine trees – and a fire-break around the urbanisation of at least 30 metres wide.
Meeting points where evacuees can safely shelter in the event of a fire have been earmarked – the houses along Avenida del Tío Català in the Granadella area and the restaurants in La Barraca bay for those nearby and from Cala Clemence, since these eateries have space for up to 624 people.
Screens will be set up to keep the smoke out, and plants and trees will be removed, replaced or redesigned to ensure the areas are unlikely to catch light and those who have had to leave their homes can shelter inside safely.
Jávea has also started using mobile water-cannons, which can be refuelled from swimming pools if necessary.
As well as helping to put fires out, these will be employed for 'preventive irrigation', or dousing grassy areas, scrubland and trees during periods of extreme heat.