The main gardens of Murcia will be closed to the public on hot tropical nights

Three alert levels (marked by the colors yellow, orange and red) will determine the actions in the parks and gardens of the municipality of Murcia when inclement weather occurs, both due to rain, wind or daytime heat as well as tropical nights that affect the trees .

The councilor responsible for the Parks and Gardens service, Ainhoa ​​Sánchez, explained, after the Governing Board meeting held yesterday, that the municipal executive had approved the protocol that had been applied to give “a legal framework” and legal certainty to decisions. Both Local Police and firefighters, Civil Protection and municipal service operators are involved in the actions.

The document affects large green areas (such as the Malecón, Floridablanca, the Silk and Salitre gardens, the Artillery Barracks, the Santiago and Zaraíche palm grove and the Torreagüera garden) and gardens with children’s games. In extreme cases, it will be closed where it has been fenced, or it will be marked to prevent passage into open spaces. In cases of tropical nights, the passage will be prevented for at least 48 hours, since, as the councilor explained, “the trees need to recover from the high temperatures.”

Depending on the level of notice, children’s games, areas for the elderly, sports areas, terraces and kiosks will be closed, activities will be suspended in green areas or the closure (in those spaces that are fenced) or beaconing of the garden in its totality.

The protocol also includes the number of troops that will participate at each moment of the alert and the preparations for the intervention of external aid in the event of an emergency, as well as guaranteeing the evacuation through direct intervention of the troops.

Currently, the municipality has 22,800 large trees, of which just over half a thousand are classified as “unique”, such as the Santo Domingo ficus.

On the branch in Alfonso X

Regarding the accident that occurred on April 23 on the Paseo de Alfonso X el Sabio, in which a fallen branch after a strong gust of wind injured a young man, the mayor stressed that “on March 29 a exhaustive review of all these trees, since this is one of the areas in which they work assiduously” due to the continuous influx of people.

Ainhoa ​​Sánchez added that these specimens will be inspected again in the coming days. “As the technicians say, trees are living beings and an unforeseen event can always arise, especially in cases of adverse weather conditions,” said the mayor.