Spain's government activates pre-emergency phase amid multiple wildfires around the country

The Ministry of the Interior of Spain has announced the activation of a 'pre-emergency phase' in view of the multiple forest fires affecting different parts of the country. The measure seeks to coordinate and reinforce the deployment of state resources in support of the most affected regions, which include Castilla y León, Navarra, Andalucía, Madrid, Castilla-La Mancha and Galicia

General director of civil protection and emergencies Virginia Barcones activated the measure in the early hours on Tuesday morning, which has allowed the national centre for monitoring and coordination of emergencies (Cenem) to initiate a reinforced communication protocol with the regional centres to monitor the situation and anticipate the evolution of the outbreaks. Barcones has also called an urgent meeting of the state coordination and management committee (Cecod) to assess the emergency, with the participation of the heads of the Ministry of Ecological Transition, state meteorological agency Aemet and the Ministry of the Defence, among other bodies.

Castilla y León is currently facing 11 active fires, five of them at severity level two. In Zamora, the fires in Molezuelas de la Carballeda, with 3,500 hectares burned, and Puercas have forced the evacuation of residents of up to eight municipalities and the closure of several regional and provincial roads. In León, fires in Yeres, Paradiña and Llamas de Cabrera have kept firefighting teams on alert. The Yeres fire has affected the Las Médulas World Heritage site and forced the evacuation or confinement of some 800 people. A total of 3,400 people have been evacuated due to the fires in the region.

The fire in Carcastillo (Navarra) continues to be stabilised, as firefighters are refreshing and controlling hot spots, although the high temperatures and low humidity keep the risk of fire at extreme levels.

The fire declared in operational situation 1 Tarifa (Cadiz) on Monday has forced 2,000 people to evacuate from their houses and from hotels and beaches. Many had to be housed in improvised shelters inside a school and a church. Over the course of the day, the Andalusian regional government will allow evacuees from the two hotels and from nine of the housing developments in the southern area to return.

The extinguishing work, coordinated by the Infoca plan, has focused on protecting the Atlanterra residential area and establishing lines of defence against the flames. This incident comes just a few days after another fire was extinguished in the La Peña area, after affecting 283 hectares and forcing preventive evictions.

The fire near Tres Cantos in the region of Madrid claimed the life of a man, 50, who suffered burns to 98% of his body after getting trapped at the equestrian centre in Soto de Viñuelas, where he worked. Although he was taken to Hospital La Paz by a Guardia Civil helicopter, the man died on Tuesday morning. PM Pedro Sánchez has expressed his condolences to the victim's family and reminded the public that the country is at "extreme risk" of fires, urging residents to exercise extreme caution.

Residential areas near Madrid city that were under a threat also had to be evacuated as a result of the Tres Cantos fire, which spread rapidly, destroying some 1,000 hectares and burning several houses, due to strong winds. Around 100 people had to be rehoused in two sports centers set up by the Tres Cantos town hall, although they will be able to return to their homes later today. The fire, which damaged a private school, came very close to business parks and homes and the smell of combustion reached the centre of Madrid.

Another forest fire is affecting Navalmoralejo, in Toledo, very close to the border with Extremadura, where the flames that started in Castilla-La Mancha have spread, already destroying some 400 hectares and forcing the closure of at least three local roads. The obvious danger to people led to the evacuation of the residents of Navalmoralejo and the confinement of the population of Villar de Pedroso in Cáceres to their homes.

Galicia is the second biggest epicentre of the fires, with 12 active sites, eight of them in the Orense province. The fire in the central massif of Orense continues advancing, forcing evictions in Maceda and Chandrexa de Queixa, where more than 3,000 hectares are already burning - more than the total surface area affected by fires throughout the entire 2024 in Galicia. The regional ministry of the environment has activated operational situation 2 due to the risk the fire poses to homes in several parishes in the two municipalities. During the early hours of the morning, five people had to be evacuated in A Senra (Chandrexa) and another four in Calveliño do Monte (Maceda), where a backburn was carried out to protect the village.

In Portugal, more than 1,700 firefighters are fighting four major fires, mainly in the northern half of the country, with critical areas in Vila Real, Trancoso, Covilha and Tabuaço. The Portuguese authorities have received the support of two Canadair planes sent by Morocco and are maintaining the alert in a summer that has already burned some 60,000 hectares.

The Ministry of the Interior has explained that the pre-emergency phase does not imply the state management of operations, which continues to be the responsibility of the regions, but it does allow for reinforcing coordination and mobilising resources of the general state administration in the face of one of the most serious waves of fires in recent years.