"Neglected areas burn the most, forests need to be managed"

What’s the current situation of fires in the Balearic Islands?

This year is looking a lot like the last few years. We’re down in terms of number of fires: we get between 80 and 100 every year, and in 2025 we’ve had 67 so far, so we’ll probably end the year with around 80 or so. Five to eight years ago, we always reached over 100, so we’ve managed to reduce the number. It ultimately depends on each season. This year we’re doing well, but we don’t yet know what could happen in the last few months. If we compare it with the Peninsula, which has seen one of the worst fire years in history, here we can say that we’ve been quite lucky as we’ve not had any large out-of-control fires.

How is climate change affecting this risk?

It’s clear that we’re getting more and more Saharan heat waves. When they last several days in a row, plants become much more vulnerable. If there’s also a lot of wind and someone setting fire on purpose, we get the perfect recipe for a huge fire. The problem is that some become what we call ‘beyond firefighting capacity’ and only go out when something drastic changes, such as the weather or the fuel type on the forest floor.

One of the projects funded by sustainable tourism tax has been the installation of water tanks. What does this involve?

In firefighting, we mostly use water, especially in the Balearic Islands where heavy machinery is difficult to use due to the narrow roads. That’s why we depend on water and having it nearby. We have a permanent fleet of ten or eleven firefighting aircraft here, and each helicopter drops about a thousand litres per flyby. If there are five helicopters working to put out a fire, that’s 5,000 litres per round, which requires water points to be available. The sustainable tourism tax project has made it possible to identify areas that lacked water resources—what we call ‘zero zones’—and place 70–100 tonne tanks, or reservoirs in some cases, such as the one we’re building in Pollença.

Where have they been installed so far?

In Mallorca, we’ve installed tanks in Santa María and Santanyí, in addition to the Pollença reservoir which is currently under construction. In Menorca, we’ve installed two around Sant Lluís, because this was a problem area, and we’ve put another in Formentera. It’s not always easy, as land is often privately owned and many landowners don’t want anything installed on their land or to grant free entry. We always seek to make agreements or find public locations, and around each tank we map out a 2.5 km radius to ensure helicopters can refuel without losing time.

What difficulties do they run into?

Beyond negotiating with landowners, there’s the water supply. The old reservoirs were filled by trucks, but that’s unworkable when you have 70 or 80 water points. We’re now looking for each one to have its own independent supply, either from the water network, the Balearic Water Agency (ABAQUA) or from a private well with sufficient flow. This would mean we only have to check levels and performance without having to devote resources to filling them.

Is there a noticeable impact of having these tanks?

Yes, very much so. We had a fire in Ibiza last summer, and we were able to get water from a tank 700 metres away. Helicopters were unloading every 50 seconds or just over a minute, which makes a huge difference. There came a point when it was almost empty and we had to move on to another one further away, but the fire was under control. Having water nearby improves the efficiency of our firefighting aircraft, which contain the fire until ground crews arrive to finish it off.

Beyond water tanks, what other measures are being carried out?

The regional fire defence plans also include clearing up forest tracks and creating fire lines —the old firebreaks, whereby vegetation is removed on both sides of a track to stop the fire from spreading and to facilitate vehicle access. We also work on active landscape management: if forests are managed by harvesting tinder or other resources, they become more fire resistant. Neglected areas, on the other hand, burn the most. Something we often say is: the fewer fires there are, the closer you are to a big one, because without controlled burning or management, fuel builds up.

What role do local councils and private landowners play in this struggle?

They’re fundamental. For example, in Bunyola we built a tank on municipal land that can hold over 100 tonnes, with water provided by ABAQUA. It’s easier to reach agreements with local councils. We’re also collaborating with private estates, as in the case of the Pollença reservoir, which is being built on private land through an agreement. Without this cooperation, we wouldn’t be able to expand our network of tanks.

What plans are there for the future?

We’ll continue with the regional plans, which are renewed every ten years with specific annuities. Resources allowing, further action will be taken. The sustainable tourism tax project has meant and investment of €400,000, which has helped towards finishing the Pollença reservoir, the last in this phase. It’s not easy managing water points in the mountains: you have to find the right location, get environmental permits and ensure constant supply.