The devastating summer fires in the Sierra de la Culebra (Zamora) claimed four lives, destroyed more than 60,000 hectares and resulted in a mantra: “Fires go out in winter.” But the cold has arrived in Castilla y León, and not prevention. The community firefighters complain that the board in the hands of PP and Vox has not prepared a forward planning plan and that the promised investments and contracts are not arriving. The lack of response also angers neighborhood associations, ranchers or mayors in the area, who criticize that they are hardly receiving the funds provided to compensate for the losses. Resignation has invaded these cities that have lost a unique natural heritage and an economic engine.
The firefighters’ outrage, which had been latent since the first flames in June, intensified on December 21st. A letter from Environment Minister Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones (PP) thanked them for their commitment to extinguishing the fires. However, the text included several pretexts from the regional government, outraging these professionals for the precariousness they have been working with these months. “It has been a particularly difficult campaign due to the unique weather conditions, fuel situation and fierce behavior of the fires,” the letter reads, adding that these sources “have exceeded their extinguishing capacity” and that the “extraordinary weather conditions are becoming.” repeat”. In this municipality almost 100,000 hectares burned, a third of the total area of Spain in 2022. Spain accounted for 40% of the burnt area in Europe, while 6% of the province of Zamora was charred.
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Sources from Forest Firefighters in Fight, which is pooling the union’s demands, said: “It’s a disgrace that no one has claimed responsibility for four deaths and there have been no layoffs.” One of the dead was firefighter Daniel Gullón. “Everything was done well here and it was inevitable,” they ironize.
The “unique weather conditions” – in the form of a heatwave in June – were predicted by Aemet (Spanish Meteorological Agency), which warned of this rise in temperature. However, the board maintained the “medium” level of risk, which reduces the human and material resources available. The past year has been the hottest since Aemet analyzed these parameters. The first fire broke out in mid-June. The “high” risk will be activated on July 1, according to a 1999 plan.
As for “fuels,” firefighters have revealed that a lack of adequate staff is contributing to depopulation and a lack of stoves to clean up the country. The sparks soon fly and the danger increases. One of Castilla y León’s firefighters explains that the unit is now at a third of its capacity, “but they’re not doing anything, they should have assigned preventive tasks.” “It’s a waste, they’re improvising or starting the trucks because the Batteries are dead,” he says, highlighting the shortcomings of some bases in Salamanca, “with no bathrooms or drinking water or electricity.” The inactive companions, if they had a plan of action, could take over the clearing or cleaning of the mountains.
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On those fronts that are “out of their extinguishing capacity,” the environmental reports show their growth was in the early stages of fires at a feasible extinguishing rate. According to the brigade members, again a lack of funds prevented them from attacking them when there was room to limit their impact.
Castilla y León, the largest area in Spain, dedicated 65 million euros a year to fire safety policy this summer, equivalent to 13.65 euros per hectare. Galicia invests 88.2 and Andalusia another 39.2 euros per hectare. The board agreed in September with unions and employers to increase the budget to 88 million in 2023, which will be 126 million a year in 2025. agreed to extend the contracts. The autonomy has about 4,500 firefighters, most of them subcontracted, although their agreements define them as “loggers”, which means worse conditions. Andalusia, the Valencian Community and Aragon have also increased their incendiary budgets, although the national trend is not to increase recruitment. The industry is calling for a fire service statute based on the Spanish model that guarantees appropriate working conditions.
The Castilla y León brigades complain that these projects have not yet been noticed. After the terminations in October there are no more contracts, no winter strategy and no new media. The only prevention is provided by the rain. The Board of Directors, consulted early last week, has claimed that staff furlough prevented collection of this data on allocated resources, management of aid or hiring.
Help that doesn’t arrive
The boredom of the crews is compounded by the anger of those affected by the fires: those who lived in the Sierra de la Culebra. A farmer who was consulted, who asked not to be named, claims to have received “not a cent” from the board, which promised 35 million euros in compensation. “They didn’t explain anything, the organization was disastrous, although there are officials who make considerable money to think about these distributions after the fire and with a cool head. Do you think that we will spend the winter with this?” reflects the rancher, who has received more help from other solidarity ranchers from Zamora or Palencia than from public institutions.
Only a lucky few have received money from the board, says Lucas Ferrero, representative of the association La Culebra no se calla. A subsidy of 5,000 euros has reached some entrepreneurs on condition that they have employees, so that “small self-employed” are left out. “They have not clarified what the investments will be like, nor have they said how they will act,” says Ferrero, annoyed by the silence of the board, on which he requested a meeting a month ago but has heard from did nothing has received a reply.
The neighbors are uneasy. The mayor of Tábara (population 700), Antonio Juárez (PSOE), in July saw the flames engulf his town, eventually killing a man trying to contain the fire’s advance. “We don’t see anything different in prevention than in other years, the help of 5,000 euros is still useless, the damage in this country will last for 60 years,” notes the City Council, sad that the summer “anger” is fading because some Zamoranos “forget and do not forgive”, others gradually give up: “In this country everything they give us is worth it. It’s disappointing.”
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