When a fire breaks out in the mountains, the forest firefighters trying to put it out can belong to up to 12 different categories – from laborers to firefighters – and, based on their conditions, can be hired by public, mixed or private companies for just a few months depend on each community. This Tuesday, the Council of Ministers approved two draft laws to bring order to this situation and create a stable minimum framework for both forest fire fighters (about 20,000 professionals in Spain) and environmental officers (about 6,000 workers) in the context of climate change more and more extreme phenomena are occurring.
The Minister of Ecological Transition, Teresa Ribera, pointed out in the press conference after the Council of Ministers that they are “two important projects that meet two groups of capital in our country” and that they include several of their claims in the face of fires It is “essential” to be prepared 365 days a year, as fires no longer only occur “at certain times of the year and in particularly sensitive areas”. Against the backdrop of the climate emergency, major fires are becoming more and more common outside of the summer season; According to an EFE count, wildfires ravaged nearly 90,000 hectares in 2023.
In fact, the wildfire mitigation bill “highlights the negative impacts that climate change is causing in the natural environment, such as: B. Heat waves that are becoming more frequent and lasting longer, making fires more contagious and spreading more easily. This means that “fires occur all year round, especially in certain risk areas”. “The scale that the phenomenon is reaching requires a new organizational and structural approach to firefighting and prevention equipment at the national level, since fires do not know territorial or seasonal boundaries and increasingly require greater coordination and collaboration,” the document says.
Thus, the standard will, in principle, regulate the conditions under which these professionals “providing an essential service of social interest” carry out their work. The role of forest fire fighters is recognized at national level, the extinguishing tasks to be carried out by them are defined and the complementary tasks of prevention, detection, monitoring, information to the population and assistance in emergencies in the natural and rural environment are established.
“This recognition is fundamental,” says Ángel Rubio, president of the UGT forest firefighters union, “because the frequency of fires in the natural environment means that our activity is becoming more and more important and requires greater specialization.” In addition, we are connected to the natural and rural environment and our work expands every time eventualities such as damage, flooding, snowfall, etc. arise. In his opinion, “the standard evaluates the figure of the forest firefighter, establishes a unified national category and defines its powers.”
Rubén Pinel, member of the Secretariat for Occupational Health and Environmental Sustainability of CC OO, says: “Currently there are many different categories, depending on the agreements of each municipality. Some consider workers to be laborers, laborers, agricultural workers, and specialists. in.” Forestry… We understand that when the law comes into force, all of them must be recognized as forest fire fighters and if not, we will contact the labor inspectorate.” In addition, the future standard recognizes that these workers comply with the early retirement regulations for firefighters in the service of public administrations and organizations, which previously only applied to municipal firefighters.
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Anticipation and coordination
Ribera has assured that the government has the will to further strengthen the capacity to predict and coordinate fires with the increase of state resources when necessary: the aim is “a correct risk assessment and the consistency of resources throughout the year throughout the territory.” with a strengthening of coordination between the different administrations.” According to the minister, the response capacity has been “significantly” increased, including with air assets and through a series of reinforcements in the alarm and communication systems through the civil protection and AEMET mechanisms.
With regard to forestry and environmental officers, the Executive recognizes that there is a wide variety of boards, committees and areas of expertise, depending on different public administrations and even the autonomous bodies of the Ministry, each with different regulations. “The divergence in organizational and functional models makes it necessary to adopt the frameworks of forestry and environmental actors at national level,” recognizes Teresa Ribera's department.
The future standard strengthens the view of forestry and environmental officers as special administrative police and criminal police in the general sense. In addition, they have the character of authority figures for all legal purposes. In addition, the basic legal framework is established in which the status and tasks of the forestry and environmental officers are determined. This includes tasks of nature conservation and monitoring, support of environmental management as well as assistance and cooperation in emergencies and natural disaster protection. The executive intends to pass both laws before the summer, although they will still need to go through parliamentary consideration.
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