Pamplona (EFE).- One year after the fires that devastated a large part of Navarra, with more than 14,300 hectares burned, the most affected towns such as Legarda, San Martín de Unx and Arguedas live between the memory of that desolation and hope, seeing the first green mantle that announces the recovery of the landscape.
Its mayors transferred it in statements to EFE, mentally recovered from the ‘blow’ that was a weekend in which the fire took crops, mountains and ecosystems of some populations ahead. Fortunately, there were no personal injuries despite the fact that some towns were fully evacuated. Homes, infrastructures and businesses were affected, including the Sendaviva de Arguedas nature park.
The park partially opened weeks later and it is not until this new season, that of 2023, when it has been able to recover its activities one hundred percent. However, this past weekend, 365 days after the fire, its repercussions were evident when a downpour of water fell in the area and caused occasional flooding. Apparently they have been favored by the absence of vegetation, having burned in 2022.
LEGARDA, A LOCATION TODAY MORE PREPARED AGAINST FIRE
A coincidence that has served to keep the anniversary even more present, which was also evident in the town of Legarda. There this Saturday a conference was held on the prevention of forest fires in which many neighbors were involved, with the vivid memory of the tragic situation a year ago.
Its mayor, Silvestre Belzunegui, remembers him, precisely re-elected this Saturday at the head of the consistory with more votes than ever since he took office for the first time in 1999. Perhaps in support of a figure who, like the rest of the residents, turned his back on June 18 and 19, 2022 with actions against the fire and the eviction of the town.
He assures in statements to EFE that from all this, and despite the economic and emotional losses, they have learned and today Legarda is a town that is more prepared against fire. She is aware of “self-protection” and celebrates that “although we had a very bad time, we are all alive and we can tell about it.”
BUREAUCRACY AND SLOWNESS IN THE ARRIVAL OF PROMISED AID
He regrets that of all the aid promised at that time, little has arrived and that, while waiting to receive it, it is the City Council itself that has repaired “what is most necessary and urgent.” For this, he has gone to games destined, for example, to the long-awaited covering of the pediment for which they had been saving for years and which is now parked. Meanwhile, individuals have alleviated agricultural damage with insurance collection.
It was also collected from the wood of the forest, never as if it had been sold as a green log, and now it remains to “think in the long term what we do with the forest”. This idea is linked to the future importance of prevention so that the spread of those flames never happens again, or at least in such a virulent way.
And here comes into play the idea of encouraging extensive livestock farming, which takes advantage of natural resources and allows for more sustainable management. However, precisely in Legarda it has the problem that the highway divides the town in two and leaves the water points on one side and the field on the other, so a passageway would be needed for the access of the cows.
Despite this, in one year Legarda has a fire protocol, an ordinance, it has equipped itself with hydrants and hydrants, and has set up systems on the street so that they can be used if necessary. “We are very practical and, if something happens to us, we analyze it and draw conclusions, which must be solved,” Belzunegui ditch.
And he says it when the green tone in some crops and places can already be seen in the landscape of the town, “I don’t know if it’s hope.”
EXTENSIVE LIVESTOCK, A TOOL TO FIGHT AGAINST FIRE
Also “a green color that is not the one we had before, but that lifts our spirits” its mayor, Javier Leoz, sees the surroundings of San Martín de Unx. He too has been revalidated at the polls after experiencing the fire in his town a year ago in a doubly painful way. Thus, his involvement in his evacuation prevented him from saving personal property from burning and he lost agricultural machinery belonging to him.
While waiting for this special circumstance to be recognized in order to receive aid, Leoz warns of the “slow and bureaucratic” speed at which these procedures generally circulate despite the initial consternation. If he finds that the insurance has been taking charge of other municipal and private assets that were affected.
Also in San Martin de Unx, the idea of promoting extensive livestock farming “as a very important element in the fight against fire” has taken hold. This was known dozens of years ago, when rural life was based on livestock and agriculture.
Now, with an “obvious climate change that raises temperatures” and extensive livestock farming in the Middle Zone of Navarra has been abandoned, “the mountain advances” and in summer, with the dry vegetables on the ground, “it is an impressive fuel.”
For this reason, and waiting to delve into solutions, San Martín de Unx is recovering “that green color that, although it is not the one we had before, lifts our spirits.” Says a mayor who also appreciates the smell of aromatic herbs that characterize, along with wine, this town.