Every year we access the contract through a series of tests, the offers appear on
the internet and you have to be attentive since they have deadlines and dates tosign up, then they let you know what day it will be and we do them. The tests foran ELIF (Forest Fire Fighting Team), that is to say a helicopter, with which wecannot leave the community of Castilla y León, consist of running 2.4 km in 11:30as the limit, making a line of defense (dig into mineral soil) to cut thecontinuity of the fuel in case the fire came from one of the sides of said line,a multiple choice theoretical exam, and personal interview. Once the tests werepassed, we signed a work and service contract, illegal since the last laborreform, which lasts from July 1 to September 30 for 80% of the operation againstthe fight against forest fires in Castilla y León. Period established by the riskof fire, according to the Board, Quiñones considers that having the crews longeris unnecessary and an economic waste and that the fault of the state of ourmountains is environmentalism.If they like the way you work, they can extend the campaign by 15 days, that iscalled post-campaign, there are people who start a month before, that is calledpre-campaign, but the vast majority have 3-month contracts.forestry agreementAccording to the forestry agreement, we cannot be on duty for more than 12 hoursin a fire, and we must have 12 hours of rest between one day and another. But thereality is that we spent 24 hours inside the fires, with hardly any food orwater, as happened this summer in Zamora.In the case of the helitransportada we have 4 days of work and 2 days of rest.With morning and afternoon shifts, the hours vary depending on the sunset, with24-hour availability on the days you work and the obligation to come to our jobwithin half an hour at the latest from when we answer the call.We have the professional category of specialist laborer, which means that wecharge less, that the agreement does not correspond to our work and a long etc.of irregularities.We are subcontracted by private companies, that is, the Board hires companies sothat they have personnel and means, as we already know what private companies arelooking for is the maximum benefit, for this they save on extra pay, on havingtools such as hoes, pulaskis (ax with hoes), fire extinguishers, fireextinguisher backpacks in terrible condition, which break shortly after usingthem, or are "fixed" from other years by other colleagues with zip ties, rubberbands... they pressure people so that when they take a casualty they join as soonas before through the mutual, and thus obtain the maximum benefit.At the beginning of the campaign they give us 2 t-shirts and 2 fireproof overalls(one from last year "sanitized" and the other new), we wear fireproof boots andgloves and work gloves, a helmet, anti-projection dark glasses, fire-fightingglasses (poor quality ) and helmet. EPIS that may not be enough for the risk werun. We always have in mind a security protocol that consists of: Observation.Attention. Communication. Exhaust. Safe Place (OACEL).It depends on which mountain we go to, there are pine forests, broad-leavedforests, pastures, scrub, but in general it is not well cared for with a highdensity of vegetable fuel, something that would be resolved if the crews workedpruning, clearing brush, making sacks and taking care of roads , breaks fires andaccess to water points throughout the year, and every year we find it drier dueto the climate crisis.I always thought that the forests should not be touched, that nature has beenhere many centuries before us and that it would know what to do on its own, theproblem is that we have modified the environment so much that today it is Theseforestry tasks are necessary, such as clearing and thinning (removing firewoodfrom the mountains), clearing brush and pruning at height, it must also be takeninto account that firebreaks and roads, if they are not kept clean, arerepopulated with heliophilous species ( that like light) like heather, and thatafter a short time it is full of fuel again, so they are of no use to stop thefire in the event of a forest fire. This situation of abandonment did not happenuntil the 1960s because people lived in the towns and it was these settlers whotook care of the forest with different uses, such as removing firewood, browsingthe cattle, cleaning the scrub, with their footsteps and care. They kept roadsmostly missing.It depends on which mountain we go to, there are pine forests, broad-leavedforests, pastures, scrub, but in general it is not well cared for with a highdensity of vegetable fuel, something that would be resolved if the crews workedpruning, clearing brush, making sacks and taking care of roads , breaks fires andaccess to water points throughout the year, and every year we find it drier dueto the climate crisis.Many of the mountains of Castilla y León are repopulated by different species ofpines that were planted in the middle of the 20th century, such as the SierraCulebra, in most cases they are mono-specific plantations that are not taking thecare they need, being found in very bad conditions, favoring the spread of fire,many of these species do not correspond to that habitat but were planted there,replacing the original ones that were leafy in most places (holm oaks, oaks...)since these take longer to grow and when used for economic use, the others aremore interesting.Those of us who have started this year see how in 6 badly given hours of practicethey send us to the hell of fires, without doing enough practice laying hoses,without having done marches with the 20l backpacks that we should be used tocarrying since then, in the best of cases, we will take them for more than 10hours, without having embarked and disembarked something dangerous enough in thehelicopter so that they do not give you even minimal or practical notions beforebeing supposedly prepared to entrust that task.This added to the neglect of the rural world, the state of our mountains and thetemporary nature of the contracts lead people to change jobs and those of us whowant to stay, when we reach a minimum of preparation, send us to unemploymentlosing and forgetting the practice won for next year.If we worked all year round with necessary tasks such as prevention, cleaningfirebreaks and creating new water points, making access routes for the brigades,pruning and clearing the forests and with decent conditions, these virulent fireswould not occur, the people who more campaigns it carries out, it would notabandon the operation and above all we would not be regretting the 3 deaths thissummer in Losacio.The demands that we have from ATIFCYL (Association of Forest Fire Workers ofCastilla y León) are very clear and we will not settle for less, category offorest firefighters, public employment and operative all year round, in additionto the resignation of the counselor of the environment and director of naturalheritage.Labor dignity for the forest firefighter! 100% public operation, professionalcategory and work throughout the year.https://www.cnt.es/noticias/la-junta-nos-quema/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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