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León's Multi-Million Euro Firefighting Helibase Remains Unusable Due to Deficiencies
🇪🇸 Spain /Disasters & Emergencies

León's Multi-Million Euro Firefighting Helibase Remains Unusable Due to Deficiencies

From El País · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • A newly built helitransported firefighting base in León, Spain, has been unusable for over a year due to safety and operational deficiencies.
  • The nearly $2 million facility, announced in 2022, failed to meet security standards, leaving it closed until recently.
  • Firefighters criticize the base's inadequate infrastructure, including poor communication and lack of basic amenities, calling its state "a joke."

A state-of-the-art helitransported firefighting base in El Oterico, León, Spain, costing nearly two million euros, has remained largely unusable since its expected completion in late 2023. Announced in 2022, the facility failed to meet crucial safety and operational requirements, preventing its use for aerial firefighting resources until very recently.

It takes us an hour and a half by car, and flying would take 15 minutes.

— FirefighterDescribing the critical time lost due to the inoperable helibase.

Firefighters working in the area expressed frustration, noting that the base's sandstone surface renders most runways unusable. Currently, it is secured only by an electric fence intended to keep out livestock, a measure implemented by the brigadistas themselves. Fuel tanks have been left unsealed for weeks. Despite its recent partial opening, the base suffers from poor mobile phone coverage, lacks a landline, and its showers are non-functional, leaving personnel unable to clean up after battling fires.

"It takes us an hour and a half by car, and flying would take 15 minutes," one firefighter lamented, highlighting the critical delay caused by the base's inoperability. The situation is compounded by the displacement of brigadistas from Camposagrado, where a kerosene leak contaminated the water supply. Personnel find the relocation illogical given the new base's current uselessness. A firefighter familiar with the situation described the electric fence as "a joke," questioning the security of a helipad surrounded by such a basic measure, especially given its lack of video surveillance or proper fencing.

It is a shepherd's fence to keep out livestock, how can you have a helipad surrounded by a shepherd's fence? It's a joke.

— FirefighterCriticizing the inadequate security measures at the helibase.

Further issues include fuel hoses reaching only one of the seven helipads, although vehicles can be repositioned. The base's location is strategically advantageous, overlooking the central mountainous region of León and offering potential support for fires in other sensitive areas. However, its incomplete state, including communication problems and non-functional equipment like the suction pump, renders it ineffective. The regional Ministry of Environment has not responded to inquiries about the base.

It is unacceptable, some kids could go and touch something and the next day we fly.

— FirefighterExpressing concern about the lack of security and potential for vandalism.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El País in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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