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.

The most serious forest fires on record in France continue to be out of control and threaten, this Tuesday evening, strategic infrastructures of the aerospace and defense industry. At least seven facilities storing dangerous substances are less than twenty kilometers from the perimeter of the large fire burning in the department of Gironde, the largest in the New Aquitaine region, in the southwest of the hexagon. Among these infrastructures is the Saint-Médard-en-Jalles complex, a 435-hectare plant where propellants for Ariane rockets and strategic missiles are manufactured. Another facility located in the neighboring town of Sainte-Hélène dedicated to the production of ammonium perchlorate, a potent explosive agent, is also threatened by the fire.

It seems as if nature, irritated by humanity's insensitivity in caring for the place where their experience is made flesh, had raised the degree of difficulty in inhabiting it. And wanted to put us up against the wall. In reality, nature has been mutating with all its might since always, but in recent times it has received the impact of accelerated human aggressiveness that has contributed to making it more hostile to us. And man's hand has a lot to do with catastrophes, for example in the extension and destruction of forests or in the permanent generation of energy that causes natural mutations, starting with the climate.

Discomfort, repetitive checks on the mobile phone and anguish at not knowing what they will find when the flames allow them to access their municipalities. Four days after the start of the fire that has already scorched 10,000 hectares of the Espadà mountain range - in a perimeter of up to 75.5 km -, a green lung and an identity symbol of the regions of Castelló, the atmosphere in the pavilion of the Valencian town of Nules is one of exhaustion. Also contradictory feelings due to the desire to regain normality and the fear of realizing that what was once a natural treasure is now just ash. "I'm not ready to go back and see it all burnt, I know I'll need time," summarizes Yolany Dávila, a resident of La Vilavella.

This year we are experiencing a series of fires, both in Catalonia and in the rest of the State, which due to their virulence and speed are forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes. Faced with fires that affect crops, houses, cars and businesses, we can ask ourselves who pays for the damages caused, and if aid can be requested to cope with the catastrophes.

The next few hours are expected to be difficult due to the start of a new heatwave, but firefighting efforts offer optimism in the severe fires affecting Spain. On Tuesday, restrictions were lifted for 44,000 people affected in the Community of Madrid - 24,000 evacuated and 20,000 confined -, although 11,000 still cannot return to their homes, while in Ávila the forecast was to begin the resettlement of about 4,600 people

Tourists are fleeing Bordeaux and its inhabitants have been breathing in the smoke from fires burning just 15 kilometers from their urban conurbation for days. For now, it has already been declared the largest that France has suffered in the last fifty years and yesterday the news was that a senior fire official stated on television that it could take "weeks or months" to be declared extinguished. More than 200,000 people have had to be evacuated from various towns in Gironde, but for now there are no plans to evacuate Bordeaux. However, those who can are leaving.

A fire on the L1 metro catenary in Barcelona forced the evacuation of the Clot and Glòries stations this Monday afternoon. In addition, a train had to be evacuated at Clot — there is also a Rodalies station there — and metro circulation was stopped at this station where the L1 and L2 lines converge. Some passengers told EFE that nothing could be seen due to the smoke and that they had to use their mobile phones to see and walk through the subway tunnel.

This summer is being one of the worst on record regarding forest fires in Western Europe. Successive and suffocating heatwaves, rural depopulation and abandonment of fields, urban developments scattered in areas surrounded by forests, administrations that disregard their obligations, and risky human activities in the natural environment are the main conditioning factors that have led to the current scenario, with large areas of France, Spain, and Portugal suffering historic fires with unprecedented intensities and extents.Meanwhile, the summer months are also the ones with the most mobility on the road network, coinciding with the holiday season and trips to towns and tourist areas, often located in areas of high or very high fire risk. In fact, this very summer, great human tragedies have occurred, such as the death of several people in the Almeria fires inside their vehicles while trying to flee the flames. From the General Directorate of Traffic or associations like the RACE or the CEA Foundation there is agreement in giving some basic advice in case a fire catches us while driving. Lights on, close doors and windows and do not leave the vehicle

First of all, it is necessary to follow the instructions of the relevant authorities when carrying out home confinements, and to avoid taking the car or leaving by the indicated routes in case of evacuation, which limits to the maximum the risk of being caught by the flames. In case we see an area on fire, it is absolutely necessary to avoid driving through it by continuing on, as the smoke and flames limit our visibility and we could end up having an accident, or the engine could eventually stop due to lack of oxygen for combustion. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to turn back and leave the core of the fire, turning on the emergency lights and the dipped headlights, even the fog lights in case the smoke screen limits visibility.Although the first human reaction is to flee from flames, if we see ourselves threatened by flames at a certain distance, it is preferable to close doors, windows, and car ventilation systems to create a temporarily safe space. If we are forced to leave the car if it starts to burn (the worst possible scenario), we must cover most of our skin with a scarf or piece of clothing, as well as cover our nose and mouth, and run in the opposite direction of the fire and look for areas without vegetation or already burned. It is worth remembering that it is always preferable to stay inside the vehicle, unless it starts to burn.The car will not explode

Keeping calm and cool-headed can make a difference in any type of emergency, but even more so in case of fire. The first human reaction is fear and concern about flames reaching the car, but contrary to what movies show, vehicles do not explode, they simply burn and generate dense smoke. Stop in a space without vegetation

The ideal space to avoid the flames of a fire is the road itself, as the asphalt acts as a natural firebreak. In case of finding a space without vegetation, located against or perpendicular to the wind or in an already burnt area, it is highly convenient to stop there and inform the emergency teams of our position.

]]>

The fire in Ávila, Madrid and Toledo, which has burned more than 80,000 hectares and affects 91,000 people – there are 63,000 evacuated and 28,000 confined – continues to burn amidst meteorological conditions that do not help to extinguish it, due to high temperatures and low humidity, but which are more favorable than those that will occur from Wednesday onwards. From the advanced command post in Navalcarnero, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, has emphasized the importance of the next 48 hours: Monday and Tuesday will be two "absolutely central" days, because afterwards the forecasts are "really negative" and will complicate – even more – the possibility of putting an end to a fire that has been burning since last Wednesday. “Two days are coming that will not have the conditions we would like, but we can be proactive in advancing the control of the fire,” he added.

]]>

The weather conditions have brought a slight respite this Monday to the firefighters in southern France who are racing against time to put out the fire threatening Bordeaux. The Gironde fire, which is already the worst recorded in the country in the last fifty years, remains out of control, but firefighters have managed to stabilize it. However, extinction seems a distant goal: the fire "will last several weeks or even several months", said Lieutenant Colonel David Annotel, representative of the National Federation of Firefighters of France, who warned of the need to plan for the rotation of personnel.

]]>

Race against time to try to stabilize the fire that since Saturday has been devouring the Espadà mountain range, the green lung of the north of the Valencian Country and an identity symbol of the regions of Castelló. So far, the fire has burned more than 8,500 hectares, has reached a perimeter of 72 kilometers and has forced the evacuation of 16,000 people from 18 towns and the confinement of 64,000 — from the cities of Onda, la Vall d'Uixó and Betxí —. This Monday evening, it was confirmed that 6,000 residents from four neighborhoods in la Vall d’Uixó could return home, although they had to remain confined until this Tuesday at eight in the morning. At an early hour, restrictions in other towns will also be assessed.

]]>

The magnitude of the fires these days in the Valencian Community, in Spain and in France is making headlines in newspapers worldwide, accompanied by reflections of the type of whether it is reasonable to go on vacation in July in Western Europe, with these heat waves that turn a simple walk between the Sagrada Família and Casa Batlló into something akin to a painful trek across the asphalt desert.The phenomenon is not just European, of course. Hours before the World Cup final, smoke from fires in Canada was noticeable in New York City, just as they are now breathing in Madrid the smoke from fires in Castilla. The planet speaks and says that if we continue with the business as usual there will be no individual salvation.If you go to appliance stores or large retailers, they will explain that for weeks, apart from air conditioning units, they have been selling nothing but ceiling fans that, due to their price and consumption, have become the star element of the kit for summer survival for poorly ventilated rooms and generally torrid nights.The contrast between the damage that climate change is already doing to us and the slowness of the response is as scandalous as the economic interests strongly infiltrated in politics that aspire to plunder the planet until they take the last euro. That summer chronicles about the anxieties of thousands of people evacuated from their homes due to fires are now commonplace, and that devastating fires have become a kind of reverse annual lottery, is the end of an era, in which even clichés are up for discussion. Let's see how we maintain that in summer everything is alive and well.

]]>

The most serious fire ravaging France, southwest of Bordeaux, has remained stable overnight, according to French authorities. However, the situation remains at extreme alert because the fire is burning in "very unfavorable" conditions, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. This Sunday the flames had devoured 42,000 hectares —practically 10,000 more than in yesterday's report—, which places this fire as the most serious in the last fifty years in the country and one of the worst since World War II. Evacuation figures also continue to grow. Counting the nearly 20,000 people who evacuated during the night, the number of displaced people already exceeds 220,000.

]]>