Santander (EFE).- Cantabria is “keeping forest fires at bay” because the operation to combat these incidents, after increasing its workforce by 40 percent in the last four years, is “very powerful,” EFE has assured Minister of Rural Development, Guillermo Blanco.
“It allows that at this time we have almost all the fires at bay and the situation has not spilled over as, for example, has happened in Asturias, because here (in Cantabria) the troops act quickly and promptly,” he stressed.
Despite the fact that the forecasts are not favorable until Tuesday, Blanco trusts in a “prompt response” from the fire-fighting operation of the autonomous community.
This team is made up of more than 400 people including forest firefighters -with 37 crews-, agents of the natural environment, broadcasters and technicians on duty.
In the eight days to April, Cantabria has suffered 34 fires -in March there were 343-. In Spain, the fire devastated 28,400 hectares until March, more than in complete years.
With all the regions on alert and these four active fires, Blanco (PRC) considers that the situation in Cantabria “has nothing to do with that of Asturias”, where at the time of this interview there were six active fires and eight under review.
Blanco believes that the “intention of the arsonists is practically the same in one place and in the other.”
“The entire operation is working very well here, you will always have my thanks. We have to value them ”, she asked.
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The damages in the forests of Cantabria until April are “in line with previous years”.
Without this operation, he considers that some of the fires that have recently started in wooded areas of the region would have caused “a lot of problems.”
And he explained that most of the fires in Cantabria are attempts -they do not exceed one hectare-, so they do not enter “in the statistics”.
“That is that there is a prompt response,” he added.
He also attributes this efficiency to the modernization of the technical equipment and the application of controlled burning for the last two years, which has reduced the outbreaks in recurring fire areas such as Los Tojos, Vega de Pas or Cabuérniga.
Blanco stressed that “one hundred percent of the fires are caused.”
These people take advantage of the fact that this time of year is the most propitious for burning in the north of the peninsula due to the conditions of the mountains, which are not very green, and the south wind.
Out of “prudence and at the direction of the Civil Guard” he prefers not to say how many arsonists are currently being investigated in the region, but “there are.”
“Last year there were a dozen, this year we already have a few”, he added.
