Decisive hours to control the fires that have already burned 400,000 hectares in the State

Madrid / BarcelonaAfter the virulent fires of the last two weeks have devastated more than 400,000 hectares and have forced the evacuation of more than 33,000 people from their homes in the northwest of Spain, the prosecutor's office specialized in environment and urban planning has decided to investigate whether the most affected municipalities They have forest fire prevention plans, mandatory protocols according to the state forestry law. In a letter sent last Monday, to which ARA has had access, the chief prosecutor, Antonio Vercher, ordered the provincial delegates in charge of this matter to verify whether the towns most affected by the "disastrous" forestry situation had these plans and urged them to hold criminally responsible whoever had the "obligation" to draw them up.

At this point, there are 18 serious fires active in Galicia, Castilla y León, and Extremadura, three fewer than yesterday, which have already burned an area equivalent to 39 cities in Barcelona. The fact that the number of fires has decreased and that the weather forecast in all affected areas will be favorable for extinguishing efforts opens a window of optimism, although the risk of the fires restarting will not disappear easily. "This Thursday is a crucial day to be able to put an end as soon as possible" to the forest fires that are ravaging some Spanish regions this August, said the Director General of Civil Protection and Emergencies, Virginia Barcones, in an interview on Antena 3.

an opportunity to control the flames that have blackened thousands of hectares in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Specifically, Extremadura is confident of consolidating, after ten days and some 17,000 hectares burned within a perimeter of 165 km, the perimeter of the Jarilla fire (Cáceres). In Galicia, five fires are still active, all of them in the province of Ourense, and the burned area is estimated to exceed 82,000 hectares, almost the equivalent of the entire Anoia region (86,000). The largest is the Larouco fire, which has crossed the Sil River into Lugo and is now located in Quiroga. It is already considered the largest in Galicia's history.

In Castile and León, the progress of many of the fires in the province of León has improved due to the drop in temperatures and increased humidity at night, but emergency services are closely monitoring a new outbreak that forced the evacuation of the town of Igüeña, in the Bierzo region.

In Asturias, where Pedro Sánchez will travel this Friday, the situation is expected to improve thanks to the expected rains. There are currently four active outbreaks. The Degaña outbreak, originating in Castile and León, is the most worrying and the one that is taking up the majority of available resources in the region. The Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (Miteco) has stated that all its forestry brigades continue to operate in different locations in the areas most affected by the fires, as well as 45 aerial resources that carry out unloading missions daily. However, the Military Emergency Unit (UME) has seen its presence reduced to just eight fires, where it has 1,400 personnel, supported by 800 soldiers from other units across the three armies.

Regarding the injured in the various fires, three of the six hospitalized with burns in the provinces of Zamora and León remain in critical condition. Among those admitted in A Coruña, an 18-year-old firefighter remains in very serious condition.

The prosecutor is investigating the lack of preparation.

According to the chief prosecutor for the Environment and Urban Planning, Antonio Vercher, it is "evident" that the magnitude of the fires is a consequence of "the absence or improper application of fire prevention plans." "Otherwise, there's no explanation for what's happening," he notes. In cases where the action does not constitute a crime, he urges prosecutors to inform the corresponding "sanctioning authority."

Sources from the Public Prosecutor's Office point out that each year the chief prosecutor requests that the delegates ensure that city councils have these prevention plans. Starting in 2018, following a report requested from the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Food, the mayors of the municipalities most at risk of potential fires were urged to report whether they had prepared these plans. According to Vercher's statement, in 2024 he ordered a review of the degree of compliance by the city councils and the filing of the corresponding administrative complaints. Also, the use of drones to prevent and locate incipient fires should be considered.

While there was some reduction in fires last year, "this is not what has happened in 2025, in which rainfall conditions and climate change, among other factors, are behaving differently," the prosecutor adds. Last February, the Civil Guard's Seprona (Seprona Service), forestry agents, and the local police network were also ordered to use drones to map areas that were likely to be at medium-high risk, prevent fires, and verify the existence of prevention plans. Above all, provincial prosecutors were urged to study whether the absence of these protocols had "negatively impacted" the outbreak of any fires.

Vercher emphasizes that the 2003 Forestry Law, amended in 2022 (specifically following fires in the Sierra de la Culebra in Castile and León), requires the autonomous communities to develop annual fire prevention, surveillance, and extinguishing plans. The regional governments are responsible for managing the environment and their forests, but it is the local councils who must also develop self-protection plans. The problem, according to Marta Corella, vice-dean of the College of Forestry Engineers, who spoke to ARA, is that municipalities often require resources from the regional governments, while it is the Spanish government that is responsible for enforcing them.

40 arrested for setting fires

Since the outbreak began in June, the state's various police forces have arrested a total of 40 people for forest fires, three of them in the last few hours, and another 119 are under investigation. The Ministry of the Interior reported on the data presented at the meeting held this Thursday by the State Coordination Committee (Cecod) to combat the fires. The Civil Guard has arrested a total of 30 people for fires and is investigating 98 more. The National Police has arrested 10 and is investigating 21.