IT has fast become a irreplaceable tool for both expats and locals alike in Spain’s fire-prone hinterlands during the summer months.
Wildfire Watch reports on real-time fires occurring in Andalucia and Valencia, giving constant updates state and development.
The app is called Incendios Forestales in Spanish and offers a list and a map of the ongoing fires, putting the most alarming ones on the homepage.
It also allows the users to report fires by contacting 112, and to post real-time pictures in a shared gallery.
For each fire, they provide updated information about the precise location, the number of firefighters and emergency devices working on extinguishing the flames.
Users can even share and comment on each individual post as they would do in a regular social media app, enabling fast communication that can help save lives before official means of communication are even aware of the fires.
With the disencouraging perspective of a destroying summer that has already burnt more than 500 square kilometres of land, devices like these may be decisive in the recurring fight against summer fires.
A five colour scale is used to mark each blaze.
These range from 1. Not confirmed (someone in the app reported a fire, but there has been no official statement) and 2. Active (fire is spreading) to 5. Extinguished (the fire will not revive).
Download it in the app store of your device, whether it is Android or iOS. Donations can also be made to the developers, who provide the life-saving software for free.
Click here to read more Spain News from The Olive Press.
