The Civil Guard of Altea and the Local Police of La Nucia, in the demarcation of Alicante, have assisted a woman trapped in a fire in her home. The density of the smoke and the magnitude of the flames prevented the woman from leaving the home, and the officers managed to force the bars of a window, access the interior, and evacuate her while the firefighters arrived.

The Generalitat's Emergency Coordination Centre (CEE) has activated the red alert for high temperatures on the north and south coasts of Valencia, as well as on the north coast of Alicante. It has also activated the orange alert in the north and south interior of Valencia and in the interior and south coast of Alicante.

Often when we see old photos of mountain villages, there's something that catches our attention: there are far fewer trees than now. Indeed, until the mid-20th century, wood was the main fuel that heated houses and there was an entire economic sector dedicated to it. With the change in the energy paradigm and the introduction of fossil fuels and electricity, forests and wood ceased to be profitable, and the result is that the forest mass has multiplied to such an extent that it now occupies 70% of the territory in Catalonia. Less wood is consumed, and moreover, what is consumed is mostly from abroad, specifically 80%.

A member of the Military Emergencies Unit (UME) died this Sunday while participating in the operation to extinguish the fire declared on Monday in Las Peñas de Riglos (Huesca). According to the Efe agency, the man died as a result of a traffic accident during the work to put out the fire. The president of the government of Aragon, Jorge Azcón, has conveyed his condolences to the lieutenant general of the UME, as reported by the Aragonese government.

A fire is burning in the lungs of Barcelona, on the Collserola mountain. A large contingent of the Barcelona Firefighters and the Generalitat are working to extinguish the fire, which started around 3:25 PM in the part of the massif located between the Catalan capital and Esplugues de Llobregat. Emergency teams had requested the preventive confinement of the Can Caralleu neighborhood, a measure that has now been lifted. In parallel, the Guàrdia Urbana located and arrested a person in the vicinity of the fire, after detecting suspicious behavior and speaking with witnesses. The individual has been transferred to police facilities pending the outcome of the investigation, now in the hands of the Agents Rurals.

This summer has already left a series of human tragedies and on the landscape that invite us to think about the material conditions of our time. Thermodynamic and geological phenomena – such as high temperatures that force us to re-adapt to the environment, or the spiral of fires across the sub-European territory – and social dramas such as the massive flows of migrants arriving from Africa – and xenophobic reactions, this summer in Ceuta, last summer in Torre Pacheco – overlap in space and time. It is the time of heat and scarcity of the Earth.

The forest fire in Tírig, in the Alt Maestrat region, has been controlled by emergency services after four days of intense work and several meetings by the Cecopi, attended by the Minister of Emergencies and Interior, Juan Carlos Valderrama; the Government's delegate in the Valencian Community, Pilar Bernabé, and the President of the Generalitat, Juanfran Pérez Llorca.

The situation with the fires continues without pause. A forest fire in Tírig, Castelló, with about 700 hectares affected, is mobilizing dozens of personnel after a day with simultaneous fires in the area, most of them caused by lightning. Another fire in Niebla, Huelva, which already affects 8,000 hectares and has left a balance of about 400 people evacuated, is also of particular concern. The fire causes a column of smoke visible from various points in the provinces of Huelva and Seville.

The fire of Occitania, the most serious recorded in France since 1949, has become a warning about the challenges posed by large forest fires when they approach urban areas. Now stabilized, the fire has ravaged over 16,000 hectares and has advanced to within just fifteen kilometers of the Occitan city's metropolitan area. This fire, added to the one that a few days ago affected the Community of Madrid and Avila, reinforces a question that is gaining more and more strength in a context of climate emergency: is Catalonia prepared to face a major fire on the outskirts of a city? What changes when the flames leave behind the more distant forest areas and threaten inhabited neighborhoods, essential infrastructure, and thousands of people?

The Consorci de Bombers de València (València Firefighters Consortium) has acted in a housing fire on Andrés Montalva street, in the Valencian town of Alberic, following a notice received at 2:56 AM this morning.

We only worry about forest fires when impactful images reach us through televisions or mobile devices and social networks. We have learned now, but it has taken a long time, that climatic conditions will largely define the forecast of the day's fire. We also know that the number of days that meet the conditions for large fires has increased considerably due to climate change, and that if previously the speed of propagation was below 2 kilometers per hour, now we can see a fire advance at 17 kilometers per hour.

Marc Castellnou (Tivissa, 1972) is the head of the GRAF of the Generalitat Firefighters. He is considered an international expert on how to tackle fires; especially large fires. And for this reason he moved to Madrid while the largest fire in Spain – at least since records began – continued to burn out of control. After frantic days – he admits he didn't even have time to share impressions with his colleagues – he returned to Catalonia this Wednesday. "The season is not over yet", recalls Castellnou, who is speaking to ARA just after leaving Madrid. With what feelings does he/she return to Catalonia?

It's three o'clock and we've just made the paella with my father in Borriana. Sara and I look at each other and decide that the moment has arrived, both awaited and feared, to head towards Artana and see with our own eyes how our home is and how burnt the surroundings are. Artana has been, along with Eslida, the village in the Espadà mountain range that has suffered the longest evacuation: a week, from Saturday midday to Friday night. Today is Saturday and we think that most of the inhabitants will have returned by now. Although the start of the fire caught us away, we've been talking with friends and neighbours all week, and that's why we know the houses are fine. But we're afraid of what we'll find. It's one thing to see it on TV and another to see it yourself.

There is debate about when human control of fire began. For hundreds of thousands of years there were only flames due to natural fires caused by lightning or volcanoes. But a day came when our ancestors were able to take fire from nature and maintain and transport it, although not yet produce it. This semi-appropriation must have happened between one million and 790,000 years ago. Scientists do not agree. Perhaps someone remembers the hypnotic film Quest for Fire (1981), by Jean-Jacques Annaud.The mastery of fire –the generation of fire by rubbing wood or striking stones– fully entered human societies 50,000 years ago. That is a lot and not so much. It was a fabulous technological revolution. Since then, we have been able to cook –and greatly improve our diet–, warm ourselves, light ourselves at night, better protect ourselves from all kinds of beasts and enemies, forge metal... Also to wage war more brutally among ourselves.

A large wildfire is keeping dozens of firefighters mobilized this Thursday in Suffolk, a rural county in eastern England (East Anglia), northeast of London and with a coast on the North Sea. The affected area, Dunwich Heath, is near Leiston, about 130 kilometers from the British capital, and is only about six kilometers from the Sizewell B nuclear power plant, one of the UK's main energy facilities, which generates 3% of the country's electricity.

One of the most complicated moments of this year's fire season was last July 6, when the Generalitat Firefighters had to face a difficult scenario of simultaneity with two worrying fires in Carme, in Anoia, and in Sentmenat while they were still fighting the flames in La Bisbal d'Empordà. The Anoia fire burned more than 450 hectares of forest and agricultural land, affected businesses and homes, and required the confinement of seven nearby municipalities and the evacuation of a housing development. Help was even requested from the Military Emergencies Unit (UME). This Thursday it has become known how the first spark of this fire was lit, and it was not an accident.

The fact that both Spain and France have experienced the worst fires in their history – that of the Community of Madrid and Ávila, and Bordeaux, respectively – has a scientific explanation. The meteorological conditions that favor large fires have intensified by up to 50% in these two countries over the last decade, according to the conclusions of the study published this Thursday in the journal Nature. The article comes to light the same day that the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has ended the "national emergency" due to fires in the center of the State, which have already burned more than 75,000 hectares.

The night has given firefighters in southwestern France a brief respite, who view the evolution of the most serious fire ever recorded in the country with "optimism". After a "very quiet night", meteorological conditions with 80% humidity suggest a "much more acceptable situation", assured Commander Matthieu Jomain, communications officer for the Departmental Fire Service. The prefecture of Gironde announced this morning that it has authorized the immediate return of residents to nine municipalities in the department, allowing 84,000 evacuated people —out of a total of 220,000— to return home.

More than 80,000 hectares. This is the territory burned by the serious fires declared and still active in the regions of Madrid, Ávila, and Castellón. More than 80,000 hectares is the equivalent of ten natural parks of Collserola, it is more square kilometers than those on the island of Menorca or represents eight times the city of Barcelona. After another intense day, the forecasts are not entirely bad, but the arrival of the fourth heatwave threatens to complicate containment efforts and places the danger of fires at "very high or extreme," according to Aemet. Emergency services cannot lower their guard, with a dozen worrying fires across the country.

That Spanish morning magazines organize the entire television narrative against Pedro Sánchez is already a classic. Both Telecinco and Antena 3 lean to the right, and any opportunity is good to attack the socialist government. The large fires in Madrid, Ávila, and Vall d'Uixó have now become the perfect fuel to further stoke the fire with the same virulence that the forests burn.To kick off the broadcasts, they have been fueling the melodrama discourse for days. They make video clips with images of the fires and properties devastated by the flames, combining operatic chants with the ambient sound of tragedy: cries, sirens, and screams. They revel in the misfortune of people who have seen their homes burn and, even worse, expose them to contemplating the devastation with reporters digging into the wound: “We accompany them for the first time and with our camera as a witness to see their reaction upon discovering, before their eyes, the devastation of the fire”. They make them explain, in detail, every burnt space, every charred object. To add drama, they also give the names of celebrities whose properties have burned down. The fire victims, after being interrogated about their losses and miseries, are asked about political responsibles. The false idea about the prohibition of collecting pine cones and cleaning the land is constantly repeated. And they take the opportunity to attack environmentalists and the idea of climate change. It is a mantra that each interviewee reiterates. Once the drama phase is over, the insults towards Sánchez are reiterated, which is the new informative trend. Underline, subtitle and amplify the insults hurled at socialist politicians in any circumstance. “Does he avoid people?”, they caption on screen. And they transcribe each of the outbursts, however vulgar they may be. The microphones barely pick them up, but transcribed on screen and repeated in a loop, they increase the feeling of tension. “Son of a b...!” or “Dog, to jail!” are inserts that, every now and then, are added to the reports. “Does Sánchez fear contact with citizens?” is the slogan they repeated to boredom during the Andalusian elections. “Can Sánchez escape the Paiporta syndrome?”, they ask themselves as if he lived sentenced to an eternal condemnation.But what they do, in reality, is the typical exercise of exalting the masses and associating Sánchez's figure with the natural reaction of insulting him. It is the same as sports news did when, during the Process, they wondered for days and days if in the stadiums where the Spanish national team played, the stands would boo some of the Catalan footballers. It is a way of exciting the audience and creating a kind of predisposition, a logical inertia, towards insult and tension as a popular right that invariably extends. It is the way to always guarantee the news and to consolidate and normalize the image of collective contempt.