Los fires Forestry in Spain are, as in other countries in southern Europe, a problem of important environmental, economic and social consequences, since each summer is repeated periodically, affecting tens of thousands of hectares of forest. Near the 96 % of them are caused directly by the hand of the human being.
And Forest fire is that fire that extends without control by forest terrain that was not intended to burn. To the obvious forest and environmental damage that causes, we must add the consequences on the civilian population and their assets, which make the fires Forestry an issue to be addressed by civil protection and emergency services.
Due to the incidence and consequences of forest fires in our country, there are many state agencies involved in their prevention and struggle. These complement the action that corresponds to the Autonomous Communities by virtue of their powers in Civil Protection and Forest Management, providing means of extinction of state ownership, and facilitating the incorporation of means of other administrations, as well as international aid, when it is necessary and in which Spain is a reference.
Forest fires: Allied forces to combat them
The Ministries of Defense and for the ecological transition and the demographic challenge They have reinforced their collaboration for the fight against forest fires, which this summer is expected to be more complicated, with increasingly high temperatures and an increase in forest mass after the intense rainy season.
In an act held in the 43 group of the Torrejón Air Base, the Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition and Demograph the protection of the natural environment and the safety of citizenship in the face of the threat of forest fires.
Robles has assured that “in a context of Climate change like the one we live, the Armed Forces are there in the most difficult moments, always delivered and with a willing service will“And therefore,” he has influenced – in the importance of modernization of their abilities.
“We have armed forces that are a luxury, they are from the missions abroad, and in something as important to all of Spain as They are all those incidents that derive from climate change and that we are living, like the Dana, and where our military men and women turned”, Said Defense head.
The third vice president and Minister Aagesen, has highlighted during her speech the importance of strengthening the collective capacity of response to the fires forestry. He recalled that, although The extinction corresponds to the Autonomous Communities, “the State reinforces that capacity to any emergency”and stressed that the government is firmly committed to improving that joint response.
«Ours forest brigades act in 70% of large fires », He said, and added that “aerial media, such as those we have here today, are activated in 85% of them.” Aagesen said that “the contribution of better teams” and, above all, “the best professionals”, is reducing the ability to damage impacts, something fundamental in Spain, especially vulnerable country to climate change.
In this regard, he defended that “to combine efforts between ministries, autonomous communities and administrations multiply the ability to reaction and repair to natural disasters”, Which is why, he said, he continues to work in a close collaboration with the Ministry of Defense, such as the one that is reaffirmed today.
The Ministry of Defense on alert
The Ministry of Defense He has actively collaborates for more than 50 years in the work of prevention, struggle and extinction of forest firesthrough the full involvement of the Emergency Military Unit (UME) and the 43 group of the Air and Space Army. The campaign against the fight of fires Forestry will be operational from June 1 to October 30.
He Group 43 has 14 aircraft aircraft, 10 of the latest CL-215T and four CL-415 model, distributed in 8 detachments, displaying in a staggered way In Zaragoza, Pollensa (Mallorca), Santiago de Compostela, Salamanca, Malaga, Badajoz and Torrejón de Ardoz.
The Ume will display a total of 1,400 military in direct intervention tasks, distributed among its five intervention battalions (Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Zaragoza and León) and the two units located in the Canary Islands.
These troops will be added Logistic, operational and control and control support provided by various UME units, raising the total number of personnel involved to about 3,000 people.
Besides, The UME has a total of 55 drones of different classes for recognition missionssurveillance and monitoring.
Seven more reinforcement aircraft for the miteco
A year ago The agreement for the acquisition of seven aircraft of the new DHC 515 model was formalized, with a total investment of 375 million eurostwo of which come from European financing.
The Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Miteco) has directly carried out the purchase of these amphibious aircraft, which involve an important leap in the capacity of extinction from the air for Spain. These New models increase water load capacity to 7,000 liters, which significantly improves the effectiveness of forest fire interventions.
For the 2025 summer campaign, The miteco will have a reinforced device composed of 53 aerial media, ten reinforcement brigades in forest fires (BRIF)four integral prevention teams of Fires Forestry (EPRIF) and seven mobile analysis and planning units (UMAP).
To this seasonal deployment The permanent contingent that has been operational during the winter is added, with eleven air media, five helitransported brigades and three units of analysis.
In parallel, 61 million euros of the recovery plan for infrastructure improvement in the ten BRIF bases have been allocated, which will allow optimizing the facilities and working conditions of the extinction personnel.
In the field of training, a call for specific aids will be published in the next few days, Within the Empaverde+ program of the Biodiversity Foundation, aimed at pilots for operations in forest fires.
In the last five years, More than 38 million euros have been allocated to the hydrological-forest restoration of areas affected by fire, in response to the requests submitted by the Autonomous Communities. In addition, the Spanish device has provided technical and operational support in international missions in countries such as Bolivia, Chile, Canada, Guatemala, Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal, Tunisia and Turkey.