The Government advances the state campaign against forest fires for the second consecutive year

The prolonged continuation and the high temperatures are the factors that the State Committee for Coordination and Direction of the State Forest Fire Plan has taken into account to advance the state campaign against forest fires, which in 2024 will begin on June 1.

The Government has decided to advance the start of the state campaign against forest fires for the second consecutive year and this 2024 it will begin on June 1 due to the current situation that combines significantly high temperatures and a prolonged drought.

The decision was adopted by the State Coordination and Management Committee (CECOD) of the State Forest Fire Plan, chaired by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Susana Crisóstomo. For her part, the general director of Civil Protection and Emergencies, Virginia Barcones, has already communicated the advance of the summer campaign against forest fires to the autonomous communities, which have jurisdiction over forestry matters, so that they adapt their respective devices and adopt the necessary preventive measures.

This advance “allows us to anticipate and be more prepared so that, if meteorological circumstances continue to become more complicated, we can provide a more effective response to the possibility of forest fires breaking out in different areas of the territory,” explained Crisóstomo.

For her part, the general director of Biodiversity, Forests and Desertification of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO), María Jesús Rodríguez de Sancho, has highlighted the importance of prevention and anticipation of this type of episode that due to the climate emergency and the drought situation that our country is going through, they occur with increasing frequency and intensity. “Large fires, of more than 500 hectares, are increasingly affecting a larger area. Water stress and high temperatures make it increasingly difficult to deal with them, which is why it is so important to anticipate,” she said.

The CECOD meeting prepared and activated the entire state firefighting device. This device includes, among others, the Forest Fire Reinforcement Brigades (BRIF) and the MITECO fleet of high-capacity seaplanes, which is operated by the 43rd Group of the Air and Space Force, and the Military Emergency Unit of the Ministry of Defence, as well as the devices that the National Police and Guardia Civil organise in each specific fire. These state media are complementary to the devices organized by the autonomous communities.

Balance of the 2023 firefighting campaign

The CECOD also took stock of the 2023 fire campaign, a year characterised by the prominence of large forest fires, so-called those that destroy areas greater than 500 hectares and of which a total of 19 were recorded.

The meteorological situation had a direct correlation with the development of the large fires that occurred in 2023. Precisely, this Wednesday AEMET published the climate balance for April. Last month was very warm throughout peninsular Spain, with an average temperature of 13.2 ºC, a value 1.3 ºC higher than the average for the reference period 1991-2020. It was the sixth warmest April in the historical series, which began in 1961, and the fifth warmest of the 21st century.

Furthermore, according to provisional data from the General Forest Fire Statistics, in 2023 more than 7,700 fires occurred with a total affected area of ​​89,068.33 hectares. The total number of accidents was 22 percent lower than the average value of the last decade.

According to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which is obtained through the Copernicus program, Spain occupies third place in affected forest area, preceded by Greece (174,773 hectares) and Italy (97,595 hectares). The relative area with respect to the total of the country stands at 0.17 percent, being the fifth country with the greatest impact after Greece (1.32) and Portugal (0.40), Cyprus (0.34) and Italy (0.32).

Of the 378 fires notified to the National Centre for Emergency Monitoring and Coordination (CENEM), the main consequence of civil protection was the preventive evacuation of more than 28,150 people, which places the 2023 campaign in the third with the highest number of people evacuated since there are records.

On the other hand, the death of a person in Nuñomoral (Cáceres) at the beginning of 2023 in a fire caused by the burning of stubble had to be regretted. And at least 74 people (26 belonged to extinguishing devices) had to be treated by health teams.