Madrid (EFE).- Between January and June, Spain suffered 15 large forest fires (those that affect more than 500 hectares), a figure that is almost four times the average for the last decade of four large fires in the semester, according to provisional data from the autonomous communities collected by the Ministry for Ecological Transition.
Between January 1 and June 23, the fire devastated a total of 58,810.36 forest hectares in Spain, 16% less than on the same dates in 2022, and almost double (+97.5%) than the average since 2013, located at 29,769 hectares.
Along with the major accidents, there were 2,966 attempts (less than one hectare) and 1,689 fires, a lower figure than the average for the decade, situated at 1,726 accidents, and that of 2002 (1,771).
These data highlight the experts’ warning that the country is increasingly facing large or sixth-generation fires, which are more difficult to control and extinguish, as they exceed the capacity of the means.
47.8% of the claims occurred in the northwest of Spain (which includes Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria and the provinces of Zamora and León and which usually concentrates most of the so-called “winter fires”), on 21.6 % in the Mediterranean area, 30% in inland communities and 0.47% in the Canary Islands.
Of the total burned area in the first six months of the year, 64% was scrubland and open forest, 28.2% wooded, and 7.7% pastures and meadows.
Compared to the average of the last decade, the wooded area affected by the flames has risen from 7,487 to 16,628 hectares (ha); that of scrub and open forest, from 19,044 to 37,660, and that of pastures and pastures, from 3,238 to 4,522.
More than half of everything burned in the EU
According to data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which bases its calculations on Copernicus satellite images, forest fires affected 65,973 hectares in Spain between January and June, 55% of all burned in the European Union (119,041).
The country led the ranking of countries by area burned, followed at a great distance by France (21,273 ha), Romania (19,909 ha) and Portugal (7,061 ha).
The data up to June exceed the burned area in Spain in complete years such as 2007 (56,539 ha), 2008 (10,073 ha), 2010 (19,770 ha), 2011 (60,060 ha), 2013 (37,069 ha), 2014 (22,001 ha) , 2015 (63,560 ha), 2016 (52,644 ha), 2018 (12,433 ha), 2019 (63,853 ha) and 2020 (61,099 ha).
This is the worst first semester of the decade in terms of large fires, as explained by the head of the Emergency Military Unit (UME), Lieutenant General Luis Martínez Meijide, during the presentation of the 2023 fire campaign, in which he insisted on the need to strengthen prevention efforts.
After recalling that the heat peaks are becoming more intense and frequent, he pointed out that the rains were scarce in March and April, months that after a “dry and warm” autumn and a winter that “gave a little leeway”, “have They have shaken the fuel and left it dry”, explained the lieutenant general.
However, he acknowledged that the rainfall since the end of May has irrigated a good part of the country and “balanced the balance”; and although a very hot summer is expected, it is also expected to be humid, according to weather forecasts from official agencies.
The greatest risk: Orense, Zamora, León and Tenerife
According to data prepared by the UME based on these forecasts (temperatures and rainfall) and the current conditions of the land, the greatest chances of having to intervene in the work of extinguishing fires occur in Orense, Zamora, León and Tenerife, all of them them with “very high probability”.
Lugo, La Rioja and Tenerife appear with a high probability, while in the rest of the provinces the probability of intervention is “moderate” and in no figure is it low, according to the UME, which has carried out seven interventions so far this year in fires in Spain.
In 2022, the unit carried out 57 interventions in fires only in summer and faced the most aggressive campaign since its entry into operation, in 2007.
The UME intervenes in the work of extinguishing a fire when the autonomous communities see their means exceeded and request it due to its danger (threats populations) or its high extension.
Many of the fires were of “sixth generation”, which are those capable of modifying the meteorology of the place and that exceed the extinguishing capacity due to the amount of energy they release.