Early this morning local firefighters put out a small blaze that destroyed a car and scorched a small area of forest.

At 3.35am the fire brigade received notification via telephone that a fire had broken out on a road in Can Marroig abutting s'Estany des Peix. The response team included three firefighters, two vehicles and a Guardia Civil unit. Both the vehicle and two square metres of forest floor occupied by Savina juniper and bushes were incinerated. The team had extinguished the blaze entirely by 4.45am.

The Guardia Civil is currently leading an investigation into the cause of the fire.

Three members of Formentera's fire brigade will take part this weekend in a training programme for firefighters and health professionals. Now in its eleventh year, the annual event will draw emergency response workers, firefighters and health professionals from an array of Spanish provinces when it takes place on Eivissa.

As the classes play out today and tomorrow (Saturday) in the former home of the Sant Rafel convent, instruction will centre on managing traffic accidents, victims of multiple traumas, fires, building collapses and, among others, hazardous cargo. Common to each situation is an underlying need for cross-cutting coordination and participation among multiple teams of emergency response workers in the service of a single goal: improving effective response and reducing mortality and lethality of accidents.

The course is designed and facilitated by the experienced firefighters and healthcare educators making up the Emergency Staff company's corps of emergency aid instructors.

Electrical fire simulation at es Ca Marí power station
On a different note, Formentera's firefighters took part today in an exercise at the es Ca Marí power plant involving a simulated fire. A call from the 112 emergency phone service came through on the local brigade's line at 11.17am. The crew was informed of a simulated generator fire at the plant and told to execute their response imagining es Ca Marí's on-site equipment had failed. Two officers and one truck were enlisted in the exercise and flames were controlled and extinguished by 11.45am. Such interventions are generally conducted once yearly as part of the power plant's safety protocol.

Formentera Council president Jaume Ferrer and Dolores Fernández Tamargo, chairwoman of the association Espai Dones, signed into action a €3,000 agreement to foment equality and defeat domestic violence in 2018. The document traces the contours of the Council and Espai Dones's coordinated engagement on action related to equality promotion and ending gender violence.

Espai Dones Formentera is a not-for-profit group which sees the feminist struggle as a vector for broad societal support for and recognition of gender equality. To get there, the group leans on tactics that vary from educational to fun and lighthearted. Recent campaigns have been geared towards advancing and enlivening the debate about gender equality and women's rights.

From the start, the association has pegged their efforts to annual international celebrations such as Women's Day and Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. The two entities first teamed up in 2013. This year their partnership turns six.

The president's office of the Formentera Council reports that between May 14 and July 2, an agent of the Balearic revenue service will be on the island to field inquiries related to Renda Àgil, a simplified tax payment procedure.

Taxpayers who need help with their 2017 declaration must phone 971 76 76 76 to schedule a meeting with the agent, who will be on hand at the local tax office, or agència tributària, at 9 carrer Eivissa.