Castelló, Mar 25 (EFE) In the last hours the affected perimeter has not grown, which remains at about 35 or 40 kilometers.
This was stated this Saturday by the President of the Generalitat, Ximo Puig, and the President of the Government of Aragon, Javier Lambán, who visited the Advanced Command Post established in Barracas (Castellón) to coordinate the extinction of the first major fire of the year , whose balance remains at about 3,800 affected hectares.
The fire, in whose extinction 700 people work and has forced the eviction of 1,500 residents of the province of Castellón and 250 in the Aragonese area of the incident (of Olba and San Agustín), is now at the expense of the evolution of meteorology: the South component wind is affecting Aragon more, but it can change and then affect the Valencian flank.
The extinction of the fire continues with a high degree of complexity, although last night it was managed not to cross the Montán-Montanejos highway, which would have added difficulty to the extinction work.
The weather conditions of an “almost summer” episode, with low humidity, wind and high temperatures, mean that the situation continues to be very complicated and at the expense of weather changes, especially wind.
In the next few hours, media from Castilla-La Mancha and Murcia will be incorporated, and help has also been requested from the Community of Madrid, which joins all the Valencian media and the Military Emergency Unit (UME), “an essential companion ” in these situations, as well as the Civil Guard, the regional Police and other collaborating organizations such as the Red Cross.
President Ximo Puig has assured that there are still possibilities for the perimeter of the affected area to increase and has warned that apparently tomorrow, Sunday, a change will take place and it will return to the weather conditions of this Friday, for which reason the entire device is alerted to change the extinguishing strategy if necessary.
CAUSES OF THE FIRE
Puig has indicated that the fire started in Villanueva de Viver and the Civil Guard has launched an investigation to determine the origin of the fire. At the appropriate time, the authorities will inform of this end.
Emergency sources consider that one of the hypotheses points to agricultural malpractice but the investigation into the origin of the fire continues and there is nothing conclusive at the moment.
“Now we are busy, concerned and concerned about joining efforts to put an end to a fire that is destroying an important part of the heritage”, he concluded in this regard.
NEW GENERATION FIRES
Both presidents have agreed that it is a sixth generation fire, fires that arrive at the beginning of spring, are increasingly frequent and become uncontrollable and unextinguishable.
Javier Lambán has pointed out that in recent technical conferences held in Aragon it became clear that what could happen in the coming months and years should be taken “very seriously” if these fires are not valued with the corresponding dimension.
The accumulation of biomass due to the abandonment of agricultural activities makes these fires become “real tinderboxes” and that they represent a civil protection problem, for which “we will have to remedy it,” he stated.
According to Puig, they are “non-extinguishable, non-controllable” fires and for which it is fortunate to have the alliance of meteorology, and for this reason he has considered it essential to update all technological and prevention processes in an environment associated with depopulation that, together with to drought and the climate crisis, it becomes “a perfect storm”.
Lambán has highlighted the importance of a single coordinated command and direction between Autonomous Communities as a step forward, as has happened in this case and for the first time with a single Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI), “a substantial advance that, in view of the future will result in benefits to deal with this type of catastrophes”.
They have requested the maximum prudence from the population and patience from the evicted people, and they have hoped that they are in the best possible conditions.