This Thursday, Red Eléctrica, a subsidiary of Redeia responsible for the transmission and operation of the electricity system in Spain, has inaugurated a training programme aimed at forestry technicians and environmental agents of the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha on coordination and action in the event of fires that may affect high-voltage power lines.

In total there will be five sessions, one for each of the provinces of the autonomous community. This Thursday, 25 April, they will be held in Albacete and Cuenca, while next Tuesday, 30 April, they will be held in Ciudad Real. Finally, on Tuesday, 7 May, the activity will close in Guadalajara and Toledo.
The training programme will be given by Red Eléctrica's team of technicians, specifically line coordinators, installation managers and environmental management technicians. The technicians will explain to the participants from Castilla-La Mancha the elements that make up electricity transmission lines, the action to be taken in the event of a fire in areas close to electricity infrastructures, prevention measures and coordination management in this type of situation. 

At the inauguration of the programme in Cuenca, Marta García, the technician responsible for the coordination of Red Eléctrica's fire agreements, highlighted the importance of these agreements as a mechanism for holding workshops and creating a "space for the exchange of information and trust between both parties, which allows a direct relationship to be established between Red Eléctrica agents and technicians, with the aim of avoiding the risk of fires and establishing the best possible prevention measures".

The initiative is being carried out within the framework of collaboration that Red Eléctrica has maintained with the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha since 2013, as well as with other autonomous communities, as the competent administration in the prevention and fight against forest fires.
Each course will last 4 hours, during which environmental agents and technicians from the regional administration will learn about regulatory aspects; identification of power lines and transmission grid supports; power line safety concepts, existing risks; types of incidents; prevention and extinguishing measures, as well as action protocols.

Participants will also be introduced to Red Eléctrica's vegetation management measures and other environmental aspects of the Redeia subsidiary. The programme includes a practical component, with examples of line identification, in which participants will carry out a simulation of the fire warning protocol.