The Mallorca Fire Department will have an emergency helicopter that will be available 365 days a year to carry out mountain rescues, tackle forest fires and respond to traffic accidents. This was announced today by the president of the Council of Mallorca, Llorenç Galmés, who stressed that, although it will be a multi-purpose aircraft, it will be mainly at the service of the Mountain Rescue Group. In the last ten years, he stressed, this unit has tripled its number of rescues, from 100 to 300 sorties a year.
According to the island institution the aircraft will have the capacity to transport both material equipment and personnel, and will have a rescue basket for injured people, oxygen and a defibrillator.
For fire fighting it will have a water bucket with adjustable capacity and a thermal camera, while for action in traffic accidents it will have cameras that transmit in real time and the capacity to transport injured people.
With its acquisition, which is expected to cost one million euros, response times will be reduced to five minutes and it will make it possible to reach any point on Mallorca in just 15 minutes, including areas that are difficult to access, such as Formentor or Sa Calobra. Galmés thanked the Guardia Civil and Air Sea Rescue for the support they have provided over thepast few years, placing their helicopters at the disposal of the Mallorca firefighters. The acquisition of the chopper, he admitted, was a ‘long-standing demand’ of the island’s fire brigade.
The president also recalled the 30% increase in the budget for the Mallorca Fire Department since 2023 for the renovation of its vehicle fleet, equipment and infrastructure, as with the construction of the future facilities in Manacor - already in its final phase - and Santanyí - recently begun. He also indicated that the island institution is already working on a general infrastructure plan to modernise the existing fire stations and provide them with more resources, both in terms of vehicles and equipment.
The presentation of the new helicopter was attended by some of the founders of the Mountain Rescue Group, which will be 25 years old next year, three of which are still active. Galmés, who considered that its creation was a ‘milestone’ for Mallorca due to its ‘specialised service’, thanked them for their work and celebrated its growing evolution in recent years to cope with the increase in mountain rescues.