GPS tracking, fire extinguishers and defibrilators: the safety measures being taken for Holy Week processions in Costa del Sol town

The town hall will have an emergency coordination centre to make sure everything goes smoothly during the most important religious festival of the year

Eugenio Cabezas

Vélez-Málaga

Wednesday, 9 April 2025, 14:30

The countdown to Holy Week in Vélez-Málaga on the eastern Costa del Sol has started. Mayor of Vélez-Málaga, Jesús Lupiáñez, has announced plans for "extensive and rigorous security arrangements" that will be put in place between 13 and 20 April in the municipality, one of the busiest and most important annual events in the town.

In order to "guarantee safety and rapid action in the event of an emergency", an emergency coordination centre (CECOP) will assume a leading role in the event of any possible incidents that may occur during the course of the week in Vélez-Málaga.

This and other interventions of vital importance were announced on Monday 7 April and are integrated into a comprehensive network of security and emergency measures that "will enable more detailed and real-time attention to any circumstance or incident that may occur in the course of Holy Week,’ Lupiáñez said in a statement. Local Police, the association of Holy Week brotherhoods and the Civil Protection volunteers form part of this team.

‘This security and emergency plan will comply with all the precepts required to ensure that citizens and visitors can enjoy the week with the highest standards of quality," the mayor said.

There will be defibrillators in each of the floats that make up the processions, as well as in the open municipal buildings (the town hall and the San Francisco market).

Along the same lines, each of the floats will include their own fire extinguishers, in addition to those that will be installed in the streets. Likewise, each of the brotherhoods will work with its own internal security and emergency system, which will contribute to greater control of the situation and the contingencies that may occur unexpectedly. They have received basic training on how to act in the event of an emergency, the use of fire extinguishers and the specific use of semi-automatic defibrillators. This follows an incident in 2023 when the Virgen del Rocío image caught fire when a candle fell on to the robes.

Identification bracelets with QR code will be provided for children with contact telephone numbers in the event of a child getting lost. The extensive plan also incorporates the geolocation of the floats, another essential tool for emergency interventions, which allows their location to be detected and monitored in real time.

According to the legal rulings, all the equipment will be arranged in a specific and coordinated manner in the streets and squares of the municipality and, especially, during the itineraries of the brotherhoods and other groups and groups that take part in the processions.

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