Maintaining personnel and equipment up there, comprising of four firefighters and two vehicles, will cost about 450,000 euros per annum, explained the Chairman of the Provincial Council, José Entrena. The staff will include one fire chief, one driver and two fire fighters. As for vehicles, there are two provided by the City Hall: a fire engine (camion cisterna) and a command & transport vehicle

Until now any emergency requiring the presence of the fire service was handled by one of the fire stations in the city of Granada (Parque Sur de Bomberos).

The Monachil Town Hall within whose municipality Pradollano lies, will provide the installation on the resort, which will be modified to suit the needs of the fire service. The running costs (electricity, mains water and heating) will be met by the said Town Hall.

This move is the result of a fire in a resort hotel in 2014, which being a wooden construction was burnt to the ground before the fire service in the city could get there: or better said, the fire had taken such a hold that there was nothing that the fire fighters could do but watch it burn out. Since then the idea has been bandied about but it wasn’t until now that the decision was taken and the funds allotted.

“Were going to have a fire detachment up there what ever happens but let it be made clear that we will continue to demand that the Junta de Andalucía pulls its weight together with the Provincial Council and Monachil Town Hall,” said the Chairman. It should be noted that the company that manages the ski resort is a publicly owned one belonging to the Junta de Andalucia.

Finally, the Mayor of Monachil, said that they were very happy with this move as the ski resort of Pradollano lies 30 kilometres away from the town itself.

(News: Sierra Nevada, Granada, Andalucia)