Juan C. Caballero (Valencia City Council): Prevention is the big change we must lead

How important is security and emergency planning for Valencia City Council?

Safety and emergency planning is a top priority for the city of Valencia. Our city has experienced extreme situations in the last year, such as the DANA last October, which reminded us all that meteorological phenomena, fires or blackouts are not exceptional events, but risks that can occur at any time. That's why we believe that prevention is the great change that we must lead: investing in security means investing in saving lives and improving citizens’ trust in their institutions.

So we are also working to make Valencia a leading city in terms of resilience and to become the first major European city to be self-sufficient in the supply of drinking water in critical situations. This translates into an ambitious project that will double the current water storage capacity, with the commissioning of more municipal and own water treatment plants. The aim is to ensure that, come what may, our residents will be assured of water.

What human and technological resources are available for this?

We have a highly qualified Local Police and Fire Brigade, supported by Civil Protection and the rest of the municipal services. This is in addition to the latest investments in technology: surveillance cameras, drones, resilient communication systems and pilot projects for sound alerts in districts like La Torre. Thanks to European funding, the Valencia Local Police force is also testing disaster management systems with artificial intelligence, together with other European partners. 

What are the main certifications in this sector?

Our lines of action focus on three areas: the first is prevention and planning: we have designed the Plan València + Segura, which combines citizen training in self-protection with the protection of critical infrastructures, such as the drinking water supply I mentioned earlier, as well as a specific risk analysis for the city of Valencia that takes into account water and rainfall risk in order to anticipate another phenomenon such as the DANA.

A second axis is investment in critical infrastructure: in 2026-2031 we are going to allocate 120 million euros to ensure that Valencia is the first major European city to be self-sufficient in water supply in case of emergency.

And, finally, the reinforcement of human and material resources: we have called for the largest number of firefighter posts in two decades and renewed the fleet of vehicles; we are also deploying more neighbourhood police officers, surveillance cameras and new fire-fighting tools in the El Saler Natural Park, with the first phase of the water cannons which, on days of extreme risk, increase the humidity in the vegetation of the natural area.

Then we are also leading heat wave prevention policies with new climate shelters and the expansion of cooled water sources in the city. In short, these are medium and long-term policies that seek to protect the city and future generations, because investing in security is synonymous with investing in the future.