Feijóo beats Sánchez to the punch and proposes a firefighting plan with bracelets that geolocate arsonists.

MadridThe PP mocked Pedro Sánchez for wanting to push through a grand agreement to combat the climate emergency and wildfires, and this Monday the party's leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, appeared to present a plan with 50 measures aimed at rebuilding affected towns, boosting aid for rural areas, and preventing further disasters. "We presented the plan before the Spanish government," boasted the opposition leader, although his leaders accused the Spanish government of being "tactical" with the proposal for a state pact"It's as if, in the middle of a tsunami, you propose a pact for the oceans," laughed Deputy Secretary Ester Muñoz a week ago.

Among the most notable measures of the PP's plan is a state registry of arsonists. This would include people convicted with a final sentence for intentionally starting fires, and would entail "the mandatory use of telematic location bracelets," said Feijóo, who noted that 168 people are either arrested or under investigation for this summer's fires. Her idea is to use geolocation tools like those used to monitor men involved in cases of domestic violence. The second major measure of the conservative party's plan would involve "clarifying the processes" for dealing with emergencies, with transparent criteria for mobilizing resources to avoid "clumsy politics."

In this regard, Feijóo reiterated that the Spanish government has arrived "late." "The Minister of Defense has acted like a procrastinator," he said, and asserted that he would again demand the deployment of the army, as he did when the fires in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula reached uncontrolled proportions. These words came after the aforementioned, Margarita Robles, accused the autonomous communities governed by the PP of "not having assumed their obligations." PSOE sources have also accused Feijóo of covering up the responsibility of the regional presidents in what they call the "Ventorro tactic," a reference to Carlos Mazón for the DANA. This Tuesday, Robles is summoned to appear in the Senate—at the proposal of the PP—and has warned that she will explain "what has been done and what has not." On Wednesday, it will be the turn of the Minister of Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen; On Thursday, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and on Friday, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, Luis Planas.

In recent weeks, the PP's criticism of the Spanish government has been constant, and the party's deputy secretary, Elías Bendodo, even went so far as to call the director of Civil Protection, Virginia Barcones, an "arsonist." Now, Génova is proposing a plan to depoliticize forestry emergencies, as Moncloa wanted with the state pact. Feijóo thus wanted to get ahead of Sánchez, who has not yet specified the plan he announced two weeks ago. The government's approach is to meet with companies, unions, the scientific community, and the entire forestry sector to work on medium- and long-term measures. According to the PP, the Spanish government wants to shift the debate toward the fight against climate change and not toward the interests of the forestry sector, which is demanding fewer obstacles to clearing forests and, ultimately, intervening in the countryside.

Evolution of fires

Castile and León, the most worrying

This Monday, firefighting teams continued their fight to combat the fourteen serious fires still burning in Castile and León, Galicia, and Asturias, on a day when the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) warned of the "very high or extreme" danger of forest fires persisting in northern areas.

The main problem is the recurrence of fires and the resurgence of flames, which are "causing problems" especially in the Castilian region, explained the Director General of Civil Protection and Emergencies, Virginia Barcones. "The fire danger level will not drop from extreme in these latter areas until Thursday or Friday, so maximum caution is needed due to the possibility of new forest fires starting," she warned.

Castile and León has entered its third week of forest fires with ten serious fires, two of which have forced the evacuation of twelve towns. In total, 700 residents, mostly in the province of León, have had to leave their homes. In total, more than 150,000 hectares have been burned. In Galicia—where 92,000 hectares have already been burned—there are still three active fires, all of them in Ourense, although the Chandrexa de Queixa fire, one of the longest-running, is progressing favorably and is almost under control.

As for Asturias, the situation has improved significantly in recent days: two worrying outbreaks (Degaña and Genestoso) have been brought under control, and the Somiedo fire is expected to do the same today. And in Extremadura, there is good news: the Jarilla forest fire (Cáceres), which broke out on August 12, has been brought under control thirteen days after it started. It is considered the largest in Extremadura's history, with 17,355 hectares destroyed.