Wildfire as reported in the Local Press

The Firefighters of the Generalitat have controlled the forest fire that this Wednesday has burned at night and morning in Freginals, among six and seven hectares of thicket and olive tree
Six teams of firefighters continue to work in the tasks of extinction.
Ten teams of firefighters have been working since Wednesday at night, as they have briefed the Firefighters of the Generalitat. The fire started about ten thirty at night in the kilometer 8,9 of the road T-331. All night there have been seven teams of the firefighters and early in the morning three more have been moved there. The firefighters have considered the fire as being stabilized towards 5 in the morning and expect to be able to consider it as being controlled along the morning. The firefighters have explained that the wind hampers the tasks of extinction.

At reported in l’ebre newspaper Friday 28th March 2008
Translated using http://www.translendium.com/

Last nights wild fire

I am sure many of you witnessed last nights wild fire on the Sierra Godall. This was located on land next to James Hughes finca and became noticed at about 11pm, and the mobile tom tom drums came into action insuring everyone likely to be affected were raised from their beds and made aware of the fire.

At its height flames were estimated by the fire brigade to be approximately 40 - 50 feet high and were been whipped into whirlwinds by the high winds. A total of six fire engines attended the blaze, together with Guarda Civil and Mossas. The fire men used 2 kms of hose to reach the fire. It was decided that the water carrier helicopters could not be used in the dark and high winds

Information on residents was gathered and an evacuation plan was put in place around midnight. This plan was stood down around 1.30am when the wind changed direction taking the threat away from homes on the mountainside.

At 5.15am, 3 fire engines left the scene, together with the police. The other 3 engines remained on watch, and are still on watch as I write this this morning, together with the Agents Rural and the helicopters regularly checking the scene in daylight.

The cause of this fire was olive cuttings being left in a bonfire, which was whipped up by the wind into this wildfire. It should serve as a sharp reminder to us all living in the campo.

Our thanks must go out the the proffesionalism of the emergency services who did such a great job last night in protecting homes, people and pets and also to James Hughes who handled the situation for us by keeping us upto date with information and working with the police to identify who may have been at risk. Our thanks to you all.

Residency Certificates

For those of you who wish to get a residency certificate, below please find a link to download and print the form.

You need to complete the form and attend the Police Station in Tortosa with your passport and NIE originals and a copy of each.

I believe the process is now very simple and the certificates are issued on the same day providing you can make it to the bank on time to pay the tax for registering, and return to the Police Station to hand your form in and claim your certificate.

http://www.inlandcosta.com/information/residents-certificate-application.pdf

Security of your property reminder

This is just to serve you as a reminder, and to make those who have recently joined our local community aware.

In the past many of our properties have been 'spotted' by lookouts marking property for future burglary. This normally involves a single person riding around the area locating properties which look like they may contain goods which can be quickly desposed of, such as telephones, lap-tops and in my case and another even a washing machine.

Recently an unknown car has appeared to be making these rounds again, although this is not confirmed, but has been seen acting suspiously on a number of occasions. This 'lookout' will then use a sign to mark the property for the robbers to locate it by. This sign can include a water bottle placed on the road side, a rag or plastic bag tied into a tree or a stone marked in some way also placed on the road side. In the pass week I myself have located two of these such markers whilst travelling around the valley.

So the reminder is, please be aware of such things around the area where your land leaves the main roadways, if you see anything please remove it in order to help protect yourselves and others. As Nick Ross says, sleep well and dont have nightmares!

Ryanair officially announces 26th base at Reus Airport

Last week Ryanair made the following official announcement

Ryanair Announces 26th Base in Reus Barcelona

2 A/CRAFT ($140m) & 12 ROUTES DELIVER OVER 1M PAX P.A

Ryanair, Europe’s largest low fares airline today (12th Feb) announced its 26th European and fifth Spanish base in Reus Barcelona. From October, Ryanair will invest $140M in 2 new aircraft and 12 routes that will deliver 1,000 jobs and over 1m passengers p.a. for Tarragona.

DESTINATION Starts
Birmingham June
Dublin Operating
Frankfurt Operating
Glasgow Operating
Liverpool Operating
London (Luton) Operating
London (Stansted) Operating
Palma Oct
Paris Oct
Santander Oct
Santiago Oct
Seville Oct

In just five years, Ryanair has smashed Iberia’s high fare monopoly by guaranteeing Spanish passengers the lowest fares and no fuel surcharges ever. This has driven down the cost of travel and delivered an annual €2bn tourism spend in the Spanish regions.

Ryanair’s new base in Reus Barcelona will replicate the success of our existing bases in Alicante, Girona, Madrid and Valencia, transforming tourism to the region and saving passengers €100m p.a. compared to Iberia’s high fares and fuel surcharges.

Announcing Ryanair’s 26th European base in Reus, CEO Michael O’Leary said,

“We congratulate Reus for fighting off stiff competition from seven other airports across Europe to win this new base which guarantees over 1m passengers p.a and two new aircraft worth over $140m for 12 Ryanair routes.

“Ryanair will now develop the region’s massive untapped potential by giving the tourism industry year round low fare access to Europe’s largest cities. The 1m passengers that Ryanair delivers to/from Reus next year will generate a local visitor spend of at least €150m.