News

Communities are mostly prepared with emergency protocols

Sponsors

Felipe Reyes, prevention manager who coordinates 14 committees in the communes of Arauco, Lota, Coronel, Santa Juana, and Penco, mentioned that the network's work is based on a public-private collaboration to work together on preventing fires, as nothing is achieved by asking institutions to do their job if the community does not do its part.

The network is present in 6 regions of the country, with 50% concentrated in Biobío.
One way to measure the committees' work is by verifying the occurrence of fires, but communities are also mostly prepared with emergency protocols, having selected meeting points, evacuation routes, water sources, and emergency mapping that identifies individuals with disabilities—something crucial, as during major emergencies, chaos ensues, and thanks to this information, response times to neighbors and institutions are reduced.

Today, he also believes people are better prepared, as they have fire extinguishers, tools, smoother communication, and coordination, especially in rural areas. Precisely in these areas, paper maps are very useful, distributed to the representative so they can lead emergencies in the municipality, while another copy remains with the Fire Department and Carabineros.

All this has helped raise awareness among the population. Reyes even acknowledged that after this summer's emergency, he has received many requests to open new committees, as "we understand our job is to prevent fires, especially because in recent events, the fire advanced 120 meters per minute. Therefore, even with the best technology in the world, if it moves at such speed with wind, nothing can stop it. If disasters occur, the idea is for neighbors to detect them early so they can quickly alert emergency teams and prevent the fire from growing and causing greater damage."