Ana Mula visits 1 of nan drone teams. Credit: Ayuntamiento de Fuengirola.
In July 2025 alone, Fuengirola’s lifeguard work showed its mettle pinch its cutting-edge drone surveillance system, 1 of nan astir precocious connected nan Spanish coasts.
Now successful its eighth year, nan exertion has proven captious successful mishap prevention and h2o rescues, which has made Fuengirola a benchmark connected nan Costa del Sol and each crossed Spain.
91 formation hours and 573 interventions successful 1 month
Four unmanned aerial vehicles person operating nan Fuengirola coastline, and logging a full of 91 hours of formation and conducting 573 safety-related interventions successful nan period of July alone. Over 90 per cent of these actions person focused connected monitoring and prevention, ensuring safe swimming conditions done broad oversight successful bathing areas.
The drone service, operated by contractor Aeromedia, began connected July 15, and covers 4 strategical coastal points. Within conscionable 2 weeks, nan drones proved basal successful detecting risks and enabling rapid, coordinated responses.
A lifesaving innovation
Fuengirola’s mayor, Ana Mula, praised nan town’s early take of nan drones for formation rescue operations 8 years ago. “Many places now usage this technology, but Fuengirola remains a leader successful invention and bather safety,” she said during a caller study presentation. This season, a dedicated drone operations booth was constructed, which improves moving conditions for operators and makes judge nan craft are ever successful a bully authorities of repair and fresh for emergencies.
Drones: eyes successful nan sky, thief successful rescues
Other than conscionable surveillance, nan drones person played a lifesaving domiciled successful respective emergencies. In July, they conducted six rescue missions, successful which they were utilized to quickly find struggling swimmers and past deploying floating life-saving floats to support nan swimmers safe until rescue teams arrived. “Drones are important for accelerated consequence successful captious situations,” Mula said.
As well, 22 per cent of drone interventions addressed preventive measures, identifying risky behaviour aliases conditions to avert imaginable incidents. The proactive attack has optimised nan usage of different rescue resources, specified arsenic boats and pitchy skis.
Part of a broader information plan
The drone surveillance strategy is conscionable 1 constituent of Fuengirola’s broad formation information strategy. The scheme includes 55 lifeguards, 14 formation monitors, and a specialised summertime constabulary portion to guarantee information some successful and retired of nan water, and 1 which complements nan drones and rescue teams.
With this monolithic deployment of manpower and technology, nan consequence is that Fuengirola’s beaches are statistically among nan safest successful Spain.