fires

Shepherds have become the great weapon against fires. So Galicia has created a shepherding school

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“We have to put an end to that thought, when you say that you are a pastor, of ‘poorlook what he has to do.’” Speaks María Jesús Crespo, a 58-year-old Galician who has been working for more than a decade caring for a flock of sheep in Aranga, in the Betanzos region. It is not his only occupation. María Jesús also leads the Association of Sheep and Goat Breeders Ovicaone of the entities that has just activated a school for shepherds in Galicia. The objective, as Crespo insists, is to break stigmas, modernize the sector and demonstrate that in 2026, pastoring is still a completely viable profession. career pastor. If there are faculties dedicated to training doctors, pharmacists, engineers or architects, why wouldn’t there be specific classrooms for new pastors? To such a conclusion that they have just reached in Galicia, where the sector has launched a school focused on pastoralism. The initiative has the Galician Government and the sector itself behind it through Ovica and has the support of Fundación La Caixa. Its purpose: to instruct future pastors in the necessary skills to carry out their work in the 21st century, which involves not only knowing how to take care of flocks. To achieve the degree, students also need to assimilate knowledge about management and technology. 570 hours… and a lot of work. To demonstrate how ambitious the initiative is, the Xunta specifies that in total the training will cover 570 hours: 250 of theoretical training, designed above all so that the new pastors adopt an “agrarian business” approach; and 230 hours of eminently practical nature. Upon leaving the classroom, the students will apply their knowledge on farms spread across almost twenty rural towns in the province of Ourense. There they will soak up the knowledge of hard-working shepherds, like María Jesús, who explains that throughout his years of work he has even had to deal with wolf attacks. The idea is that during their weeks of practice the students prepare to know how to act when a cow goes into labor or limps. “There is a cycle of technical-economic management of a farm, issues of traceability and marketing, occupational risk, environmental awareness, agrotechnology, animal health, management, production, forage and feeding…”, explains the president from Ovica in Vigo Lighthouse. “When we talk about shepherds we tend to think of a person with a stick and a flock, but today they are agricultural businessmen. We have to change the chip and transfer that change in profile.” “It is very necessary”. María Jesús defends that the launch of the school is not a whim. On the contrary. With it, they hope to help vocations like theirs emerge and, above all, professionalize a profession that, they insist, cannot be practiced today as in the time of our grandparents. “School was necessary,” underlines. “It’s about preparing people to work in the 21st century.” Is it that important? Yes. And not only because of the economic impact of the sector. Grazing is directly related to some of the great challenges facing the country, such as rural depopulation, the sustainability of “emptied Spain” or even the fight against forest fires. Given that Galicia is one of the regions most affected by fire, the Xunta itself insisted on that idea a few days ago, during the presentation of the shepherding school. “The promotion of this training offer, in addition to encouraging the incorporation of professionals dedicated to grazing, contributes to promoting this type of extensive breeding that creates a natural barrier against forest fires and promotes a managed and productive forest,” claims. Beyond Galicia. The new grazing school in Galicia has generated expectations (a week after its presentation it already had 25 registered), but the truth is that it is not the first of its kind in Spain. In Aragón they have, for example, the shepherding school The Estiva and in Catalonia the School of Pastors and Pastorscreated in 2009 to “guarantee generational change” and promote the creation of sustainable and profitable livestock farms. Not long ago we told you how in the Valencian Community there are also a similar initiative to “empower” pastors. Images | José Antonio Serra (Flickr) and Xavier (Flickr) In Xataka | “Depopulation causes problems, urban overpopulation too”: Kike Collada, the twenty-something mayor and tiktoker of emptied Spain

Thus they can affect our health fires that occur thousands of kilometers

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The summer of 2025 has been marked not only by extreme heat waves, but also by numerous high range fires, fires that were charged At least eight lives. The fires not only kill with their flames, some of the people died as a result of accidents related to their extinction. However, large fires can also have a range that goes much further, and that was the case of Canada’s fires of 2023. Transoceanic risk. A new study has pointed out That the impacts on the health of the population of forest fires that ravaged Canada in the summer of 2023 not only reached vast areas of North America, also to other continents, including Europe. The fires of 2023. Canada suffered in 2023 the worst fire season that is remembered in the country. They occurred More than 6,000 fires that razed with about 150,000 km², a larger area than we would obtain by together Castilla y León, Extremadura and the Community of Madrid. The fires were of such intensity that the smoke The sky stained orange from New York City. However, the winds moved the smoke and volatile particles that toured thousands of kilometers to reach our continent. Exposed to pollution. According to the team responsible for the study, Canada’s fires caused important Picos in concentration of particulate matter 2.5 or PM2.5, small volatile particles of a diameter less than 2.5 microns. This resulted in a worsening in air quality. According to estimates, at the global level the concentration in the air of this type of particles grew by 0.17 micrograms per cubic meter of air. The same estimates indicate that about 354 million people in Europe and North America were exposed to PM2.5 levels above the limits established as insurance by the World Health Organization (WHO). Premature deaths. The study estimated that, adding these factors, the flames caused between 3,400 and 7,400 deaths acute in the American continent. However, the impact was beyond, and they point out that the number of chronic deaths was even greater: between 37,800 and 90,900 taking into account both North America and Europe. The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine Nature. A growing problem. The fire scale in Canada can be unthinkable in Europe, but the study serves as a reminder that the risks involved in forest fires go far beyond the reach of the flames. Especially at the close of A season that has been primed with our environment and whose consequences are probably not only noticed in our forests, but also in our health. In Xataka | A town in Ourense has taken to the street to defend its new hero: the suspect of provoking a fire Image | NASA Earth Observatory, Lauren Dauphin

They are fires “out of extinction”

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Spain faces a crisis for which it is difficult to find precedents. The fires have always been present in our summers, but this year it could be thought that their voracity would have caught us off guard. Fire extinction teams have often had problems supplying in their work in the fight against fire. And it is not for less, the situation has been extreme and, in part, the fault is in the very nature of these fires. The magnitude of a crisis. The most recent data indicate that fires this year have already devastated plus 340,000 hectaresthe worst data in several decades. The fires They have cost life to several people, eight according to more recent databut they have also caused injuries and have forced thousands of people to move to safer areas. According to data from the emergency management system of the European Terrestrial Observation Program Copernicus (Copernicus ems), this summer the fires have devastated with a much greater area than usual in Spain, approximately 6.5 times the average of previous years. Another fact that allows us to illustrate the seriousness of the problem is that of the almost six million tons Carbon dioxide (CO2) that these fires have released the atmosphere only in Spain, a figure that almost doubles the records of previous years and multiplies the previous average several times. Sixth generation. The voracity of some of the fires we have seen responds to its nature as fires called “Sixth Generation”. In this type of fire the fire reaches an intensity so that it alters the circulation of air in its environment, it generates important convective movements and even pyrocumuli, “clouds of fire”. All this makes the displacement of fast and unpredictable fire, making it difficult to control and extinction. Not all the fires that are currently produced are of this type, but the current conditions favor the appearance of this type of fires. An extreme heat wave as lived in recent weeks, added to the presence of abundant fuel matter, is the broth of Ideal culture for appearance Fifth and sixth generation fires, the most dangerous we catalog. “After a spring as wet as this year in which the vegetation has grown a lot, now we find an extreme heat situation, strong winds and a lot of time (in some cases several months) without rain,” explained to Science Media Center Cristina Santín Nuño, Head of the Department of Biodiversity and Global Change of the Mixed Institute of Biodiversity Research (University of Oviedo-CSIC). “We have all the ingredients for the ‘Molotov cocktail’ that we are seeing right now not only in Spain.” Prevent, better than turns off. Experts agree that our resources when fighting this type of fires are very limited due to their extreme intensity. Often the tools we have to fight fire lacks utility due to the enormous accumulation of energy in these fires, which implies the need to wait and focus on preventing the situation from getting worse. “We cannot forget that, in many cases, when the fires are very large, fast and intense, they cannot be fully controlled by many means of extinction that are dedicated to them. In principle, it seems that the current heat wave will begin to refer in a couple of days, so that could give a truce,” Santín Nuño added. In A recent interview In the newspaper The worldPaco Castañares, who was the General Director of the Environment The Board of Extremadura in the early 90s, also emphasized the impossibility of fighting these events. The reason is that the fires of this magnitude “reach temperatures of 1,200 degrees Celsius in their pirocumulus.” As if this were not enough, it is “fires that have neither head or fronts because they come and go from one place to another,” he added. Not only the voracity of fires. The lack of means when facing fires has been one of the great debates during this fire cycle. The impossibility of fighting this type of fire can make us fall into a false sense of inevitability, but the truth is that the means of extinction are more necessary than ever for several reasons. The first and most obvious is that not all forest fires we are seeing get into an inextinguishable phase: the fires of lower generations are manageable and require the work of the troops destined to the fight against fire. In Spain There are still numerous active fireseach with own characteristics and intensity. Secondly, it must be remembered that sixth generation fires are not inextinguishable from beginning to end although they can be in its intermediate stages. Getting control a fire before acquiring characteristics that make it indomitable is a way to prevent the worst consequences of these events. In addition, after this peak of intensity, the fire refers facilitating its extinction. Finding this moment and taking advantage of it requires these media. Beyond the border of fire. To this is added the importance of having means beyond the limits of the fire, both in space; to protect vulnerable places before the arrival of the flames; And in time, out of the fire season. Regarding the latter case, the present fires have revealed the need to take care of the rural environment Also during winter. The key is also in how the means destined to protect people and the fire environment are distributed. According to Castañares himself explained“Above all, the media have to be inside the people protecting people, with them, it didn’t.” In Xataka | The heat wave and forest fires have another face: the agricultural sector is the one that has to lose in this crisis Image | Copernicus / Ministry for Ecological Transition

The fires that are ravaging Spain, seen from the space and through the maps

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Although the heat wave that we have been supporting for days begins to send and, According to data from the State Meteorology Agency (AEMET)the maximum temperatures will descend in a generalized way this week, the forest fires They are still out of control. So far this year, More than 344,400 hectares have already burned throughout Spain. A figure that makes 2025 one of the worst seasons of forest fires that Europe has lived in the last two decades. 13 tricks to get the most out of Google Maps With this panorama, it is normal to ask how the situation evolves. The reality is that the foci constantly change. However, there are technological tools open and accessible both for the general public and for the authorities. Two of the most useful are the alert system for Google Maps crisis and the emergency viewfinder of the Copernicus Program of the European Union. Both resources are available for free and you can consult them right now. Google Maps is one of those applications that we use daily, but we don’t always know all its functions. To see the active forest fires You have to enter the mobile app or maps.google.com and play on the layer icon, in the upper right corner. In the section Map type You don’t have to change anything. The focus is in Map detailswhere we must select the Forest Fire option. The system will show the affected areas with relevant information, such as the level of gravity and the date of the last update. If we play in any of the marked areas (for example, Ourense, one of the most complicated when publishing this article), we will access a file with the estimated perimeterlinks to official sources and related articles. Google Maps is not limited to showing points on the map: behind there is a system that combines Ia with satellite images. To detect and delimit forest fires, use a model of Deep Learning Trained with satellite data such as GOES-16, GOES-18, Himawari-9 or European meteosat, among others. It also relies on sensors such as Modis (of Aqua and Terra satellites) and VIIRS (aboard S-NPP and JPSS-1). All that information is processed through Superresolution techniques To identify active spotlights and update maps with precision. In the case of the Copernicus system, you have to access the page Current Sition ViewerAvailable on the web forest-fire.emerncy.copernicus.eu/applications. The viewfinder is quite intuitive. In the left lateral menu you have to locate the Rapid Damage Assessment section and focus on the Active Fire layer. There are two selectable data sources: Modiswhich collects information through satellite sensors Terra and Aqua. VIIRSwhich uses similar algorithms to detect active spotlights aboard the satellite Suomi NPP (National Polar-Footing Partnership). Both layers allow to visualize in real time the fires detected from space, and are a valuable tool to closely follow the situation both in Spain and in the rest of Europe. Images | Copernicus (Emergency Management Service) | Google Maps In Xataka | If the question is how to shield the mountain to fires, in Soria they have an ancestral solution: luck of pines

If the question is how to shield the mountain to fires, in Soria they have an ancestral solution: luck of pines

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With tens of thousands of hectares calcinedhundreds of evacuated people, several deceased and an environmental and economic impact that can only be completed with the passing of the weeks, these days do not abound the good news related to forest fires. On Thursday 13, however COLLEGE OF ENGINEERS OF MONTES (Coim), He presumed in networks of an “ancestral formula” that has allowed part of the rural population of the provinces of Soria and Burgos to get rid of the harassment of the flames or, at least, look at the summer with some more peace of mind. His name: “Good luck of pines.” In a place of Soria … For days in Spain, talking about fires is to do it of calcined hectares, evacuations and confinements. That is why it attracts even more attention if it can be published on Thursday A thread of very different tone. In him he remembers that the Pinares regionbetween Soria and Burgos, it seems to have found a formula to reduce the impact of forest fires. And that in the area, between the Natural Park of the black lagoon and the glacier circuses of Urbión, is one of The biggest pine forests from Europe. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Three words: luck of pines. “In the Soriana de Pinares region of Pinares more than 20 years ago there is not a great forest fire. Magic? No … call it ancestral forest management,” starts the school before specifying that the key to that apparent armor in front of the fires is in the “Good luck of pines”“an ancestral management model” that for centuries confers to the neighbors a series of rights and duties over the mountain. Moreover, Coim remembers that a few days ago ray caused a fire conato in Vinuesa, the head of the region, but was suffocated shortly. “Chance? No”, Remar. on Wednesday HERALDO DE SORIA He spoke Of several fire alerts that did not go to adults in the areas of Tera, Gómara and Vinuesa, where in the early morning, around 7.45 h, a fire was detected, probably caused by lightning, which was stifled only one hour later, at 8.42. The intervention of several environmental agents, together with a fire endowment, allowed the flames to raze a reduced surface, of 0.01 hectares of grass. What is the fate of pines? As COIM points out, it has nothing magic. The fate of pines is a way to manage forest resources, a system that goes back centuries ago, to PUEBLAS LETTERS granted during the Middle Ages and has helped establish a strong link between the local population and forests. “This deep link with the forest has created a community that not only lives from the mountain (wood, hunting, mushrooms, tourism), but actively protects it,” They point out from school Before remembering that the formula includes coordination between institutions, prevention systems and continuous surveillance. Going down to detail. Said so maybe it sounds abstract or diffuse, but Philosophy The system is actually very simple: what it raises is the distribution among the members of a community of forest resources such as the wood extracted from municipal pine forests. The cast is made through lots and the beneficiaries must meet certain requirements that guarantee their roots and link with the town, among other things it helps to generate a feeling of local belonging. “The fate of pines is a system to distribute forest exploitation of wood and wood that is integrated into a community such as a practice that has been maintained for centuries uninterrupted thanks to the will of the municipalities and the inhabitants of the peoples, responsible for perpetuating this ritual, transmitting it from generation to generation as a symbol of cultural identity and belonging to the community” explained The Junta de Castilla y León in December, when it decided to declare the well of intangible cultural interest. And how do they do it? “The enjoyment of the lots is carried out through periodic concessions of luck or wooden shorts to the neighbors,” The Board abounds. “These are use divisions in equal portions, lots or lots, which are subject to raffle among the beneficiaries. For a long time, the cast was materialized in kind, with the wood itself. In recent decades, the need to facilitate management and conservation tasks has resulted in the preparation of lots that, once sold, give rise to distribution of money.” Those responsible for controlling and preparing the register of beneficiaries are local municipalities or entities, which sometimes require those who participate that they meet some requirements, such as having roots in the town or taking some time living there. Right now it expands through the regions of Pinares Soria-Burgos and Pinares Llanos de Almazán, for which they extend According to the Junta de Castilla y León to about 100,000 hectares of native forest mass. Is it so old? The truth is that yes. The Board itself recalls that the first written references date back to the 16th century, although its history is actually richer. “The privilege by which the kings granted the right of use that was obtained from the mountains, through letters villages and privileged letters, dates back to the Middle Ages with the repopulation of these territories,” remember. With the passage of time, during the seventeenth, eighteenth or twentieth centuries, the practice was consolidated. At the beginning of the last century, luck was reflected at the legal level through special ordinances and statutes, “turning a situation of fact into a law.” Beyond its tradition and roots, the Board highlights its advantages, as its effect to “link” the population to their environment or its effectiveness to fight depopulation. “It benefits the inhabitants who reside in those locations”, Point out The Government. “It is also an important economic contribution to the community.” The Soriana formula. Whether the pine suertes the key or one more piece of the Forestry Management Formula of Soria, the truth is that for a long time different media The same question have … Read more

With the bird between Galicia and Madrid cut by the fires, someone has taken advantage of it to earn money: the airlines

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Spain burns. And Zamora, León and Ourense are taking the worst part. The number of spotlights and their virulence is such that it has forced to cut the circulation of high speed between Zamora and Galicia. Some roads are cut. Renfe does not offer a solution. And, in the background, the airlines win. Cut. Rail traffic between Zamora and Galicia is cut. Renfe has confirmed today that trains will not circulate again in what remains during the day and there is not a single glimpse of hope that The situation can be reversed in the short term. In the Last DGT updatethere are six lonely cut roads and two in Zamora. None of them correspond to the great highways such as A-6, A-66 or A-52 that structure the northwest of the country. Despite this, Renfe does not offer a bus alternative to those who cover Madrid-Zamora or Zamora-Madrid by train, only open section in the high-speed Galician corridor. What can the traveler do? Those who had a high speed ticket in the Galician corridor have three options. The first is evident, do only the section between Madrid and Zamora and then take a bus or a car to Galicia. The second is to perform the entire road tour. The fastest road is obviously the plane. Prohibitive prices. But those who are obliged to travel will find exorbitant prices to cover the distance that Madrid separates from Galicia. Especially if the traveler travels from Galician lands to Madrid. In that case, if you are in a hurry, you will have to assume the expense of more than 300 euros per ticket. Using the Skyscanner search engine, which offers all available flights and allows you to filter for price, schedule and time spent, we have sought what options are available in the short term, simulating the situation in which those who have to travel irremediably and have already hired a train will be found, trying to endure until the last moment. The results are as follows. Options with direct flight between Vigo and Madrid for Tuesday, August 19 Vigo-Madrid. Travel the August 19 between Vigo and Madrid It already costs at least 350 euros. At the moment, there are 14 alternatives available but only two of them offer a direct flight. In the week, the options relax their prices but it is still necessary to spend 237 euros if we want to travel on August 20 and between 130 and 114 euros if we want to fly between Wednesday and Friday. The cheapest ticket between Santiago de Compostela and Madrid is to make a 18 -hour scale in Seville Santiago de Compostela-Madrid. Perspectives are not much better Between Santiago de Compostela and Madrid. Making the trip tomorrow costs 331 euros. On Wednesday the price of the cheapest ticket is 299 euros and Wednesday is 231 euros. On Friday they fall below the border of 200 euros but only momentarily. The weekend is firing again above 200 euros. There is another cheaper option but, obviously, totally advisable. The cheapest flight between Santiago de Compostela and Madrid costs 249 euros and a scale of more than 15 hours in Seville. Same situation for Wednesday (with almost 22 -hour scale in Malaga) or for Thursday (this time with a stop in Barcelona). Cheaper options to fly between A Coruña and Madrid tomorrow, August 19 A Coruña-Madrid. On direct flights, The cheapest flying alternative Between Galicia and Madrid he is in A Coruña. Leaving from this airport, the ticket for tomorrow, August 19 costs 272 euros late at night. If we wanted to leave early in the morning, the border of the 300 euros is exceeded. Of course, unlike the previous cases, the rest of the week can be traveling for less than 150 euros. Almost an oasis watching the rest of Galician alternatives. Among the Madrid-Galicia flights, Vigo is the most expensive journey And from Madrid? The options from the capital are not so bleeding for the traveler’s pocket. Facing tomorrow, August 19, the tickets between Madrid and A Coruña They are below 100 euros and the rest of the week in half of this price. Similar situation will be those who travel To Santiago de Compostela. Vigo, again, is the most expensive option. In this case, the cheapest price from one day to another is 142 euros. If you want to travel in the morning, you have to pay more than 200 euros. Of course, prices the rest of the week move between 50 and 40 euros. Although there are no clear data that confirms it, everything indicates that prices from Madrid are not so high because the march of travelers from the capital is motivated by a holiday getaway that can be postponed and, nevertheless, the flow between Galicia and Madrid may be motivated by a return to the office, which entails less flexible plans. Not only Renfe. The pressure on short -term flights and the fall in later days shows that travelers are waiting until the last moment to confirm an alternative to the reserves of their trains but is also motivated by an offer that has been reduced. The voice of Galicia He pointed out a few weeks ago that Iberia had reduced her daily offer in the Galician corridor in 80 seats. To this movement we must add the Partial output of Ryanair This same year of Galician airports, offering 61% less trips in Vigo and 28% less in Santiago de Compostela. This reduction in the offer and the most expensive prices have led to a reduction in the number of passengers. In A Coruña, the number of passengers flewing at the Galician airport until last July was 0.3% higher than 2024, According to AENA data. However, the figure fell 6.5% in Vigo and 12.4% in Santiago de Compostela. Photo | Ume In Xataka | The megaindios of Ourense, Zamora and León have paralyzed the Galician bird. It is the nth setback in a horrible year for Renfe

In Spain there is a “black triangle” of fires between Ourense, Zamora and León. And it is not explained only by heat

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The drawing is bleak. If you open Google Mapsactivate the “fire” function And you take a look at the map of Spain you will see that much of the flames that are devouring the mountain of the country (and some populated areas) seem to concentrate on a particular ‘triangle of fire’ between the provinces of Ourense, León and Zamora. There are the fires of Mozyuelas de la Caballea, Yeres or that of Queixa Chandrexawhich have already razed thousands and thousands of hectares. It is not the only region of Spain punished by the flames, but the big question is … Why do forest fires seem to be primed right in that region? The Spain that burns. It is not being a good August for the mountains of the country. According to The last report of the Ministry of Environment (Miteco), still incomplete because its technicians do not have the data of the large active fires, so far this year the flames have devastated 138,800 ha. And that is the calculation to August 10, so it does not include the devastated surface during the last week. To better understand what this data is, remembering that between January and the first week of September 2024 the forest fires burned 43,655 ha or that throughout 2023 they had calcined 89,000. If we look back, at the last decade, there was only one more disastrous exercise than the current one: 2022, when at this point of the year they had burned Around 215,000 hectares. Is the whole country the same? No. The flames have punished to a greater or lesser extent Andalusia, Estremadura, Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia and the regions of Valencia and Madridto quote only some examples, but there is a specific area of the Peninsula that is suffering from the dentelladas of the fire with special virulence: the triangle formed by the provinces of Ourense, León and Zamora. Tan a Fast look To Google Maps to check it. There is Chandrexa de Queixa, which has affected more than 17,000 ha And it is already considered The most destructive of the history of Galicia. Also that of Mozyuelas de la Carballedathat passed from Zamora to León and has calcined several dozens of hectares. Looking for the causes. The big question is … why do that region hit so much fury? What are the causes? The question is interesting because it is not an isolated phenomenon: there are populations, like Castromil’sbetween Ourense and Zamora, who have resigned themselves to deal with fire every year. For the impact of the flames on the ‘triangle’ between Zamora, León and Ourense He wondered Recently in X Francisco M. Azcárate, professor of ecology, biology and environmental sciences. And its entry response is interesting: the succession of forest fires in that region of the Peninsula cannot be attributed to pyologists or negligence. Or that is not the only cause at least. In the background there are more complex structural reasons that have to do with the characteristics of that area or changes in the use of the territory. Meteorology earrings. “Climatically, the area fits perfectly with ecosystems that, naturally, have a high frequency of important fires,” Azcárate starts Before aiming the influence of the rainy season, during which biomass accumulates, and dry, marked by the mass of dry and very flammable vegetation. To this factor is added the frequency of fires in humid Mediterranean climates or the effect of climate change, which influences extreme temperatures and “extends the risk season.” The fire wave has in fact coincided with Another heat which began in early August and that already stands out as one of The most durable Since at least the 70s, which is when the historical Aemet starts. Although it is not an inflexible guideline, experts have not been warning that the fight against forest fires is especially complex when the known as the known as ‘Rule 30-30-30’: Temperatures above 30ºC, wind gusts of more than 30 km/Hy a humidity of less than 30%. Click on the image to go to Tweet. The perfect cocktail. Not only do climatic conditions or heat wave influence, which has spread far beyond the Ourean-Leon-Zamora triangle. Another of the keys that explains the impact of fires in that concrete area of the Peninsula must be sought, Azcárate points out, on the ground and orography. “The region has acidic and little fertile soils. This favors more flammable plant communities, due to the composition of plants’ tissues,” The expert reflects. At stake also enters the orography of that region, marked by an “abrupt relief” that hinders the access of “erratic and strong” seals that can abruptly change the direction of the flames. A few years ago Civio analyzed The main fires recorded in Spain throughout the 2007-2016 decade and discovered that in almost 80% of cases (153 of 196) the gusts exceeded 30 km/h, which could influence the evolution of fire. Something more than weather and orography. Not everything is climate, meteorology, orography or soil characteristics. In the fires it is influencing another factor than You are talking a lot During the last days: the depopulation of the rural one (which is usually accompanied by the abandonment of fields and a change in forest management), something that starts from the provinces of Ourense, Zamora and León They know well. “In general in Spain there has been rural, population and peoples abandonment and depopulation is a food for fires,” Celso Coco warnsfire expert and forest management in The opinion-the mail of Zamora. And what does that suppose? “The consequence is that in those areas where it was worked, it was grown, it was granted, natural vegetation has been installed and there is no use of them, which has increased the forest area greatly. This continuity of vegetation, without management, results in a vulnerable landscape,” duck. In their opinion, forest fires “have existed, exist and exist” and constitute “a natural process”, but changes in the landscape have affected their impact: where they were previously found with land … Read more

The maps that explain why Castilla y León have become the “zero zone” of forest fires

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The fires are a pressing problem every summer, but in the midst of the heat wave that shakes peninsular Spain, the problems derived from fire grow Without giving us breath. One of the areas most affected by fires is the northwest quadrant of the peninsula. Something that we can verify in a series of maps that show us the present and future risk of fire. Fire risk, from satellites. The Risk Management Service of Copernicus, the land observation system of the European Union, shows us on a map the Areas with greater risk of forest fires In the continent. The map shows the FWI fire meteorological risk index (Fire Weather Index), distinguishing areas with low, moderate, high, very high and very extreme risk. The map allows us to visualize the risk we face: a good part of the Northern Plateau, in addition to areas of the Cantabrian, Pyrenees, Galicia and other areas present in index greater than 2.5, which implies very extreme risk. Southern Europe, and beyond. The map covers not only peninsular and Balearic Islands, but also the rest of Europe and surrounding areas. In fact we can see in it that the very extreme risk situation extends not only to northern Portugal, also to most of the center and south of France. Other areas in this situation can be found in the Balkans, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Austria and Hungary. Important anomalies are also indicated in Nordic countries, such as Sweden, Norway and Finland. A problem that will go worse. The Copernicus map covers this week together, from day 11 to 17. However we can resort to other maps that allow us to see the evolution of risk during the next few days, Fire risk maps of the State Meteorology Agency (Aemet). What these maps show us is not an invitation to optimism. Aemet fire risk forecast evolution on August 14, 15 and 16. State Meteorology Agency. The stain extends. The extreme risk today focuses on Andalusia, Extremadura, the west of Castilla y León, and the Pyrenees, as well as areas located in Galicia, Basque Country, Murcia and other communities. However, tomorrow this area under extreme risk will expand both in the peninsular northwest and in Extremadura, the Basque Country and Murcia. On Friday and Saturday the “red spot” will continue to grow. On Saturday, only specific areas on the coast and in mountainous areas will be fought from the very high or extreme risk. The devastation of a fire. In addition to risk maps, Copernicus also allows us to visualize the ravages that active fires have already caused. Example of this It is the fire of El Arenal, in Ávila, which has already affected almost 1,800 hectares of surface. In Xataka | In the middle of the fire, there is something that Spanish firefighters are very aware: the 30-30 rule Image | Copernicus / Aemet

If Renfe believed that the summer of 2025 was being complicated is because he still did not know the worst: the fires

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It is not being an easy summer for the bird. The campaign started with issues In one of its main arteries, the Madrid-Andalusia line, and has been challenging challenges such as The soap opera of the Avril trains, The suspension of services in several sections of the network by fire or A fault that a few days ago affected the Andalusian high speed line. Now, with a good part of the holiday country, add a new challenge that puts the tip: The paralysis of the Madrid-Galicia line. And all this with demand in record levels What happened? That fires have forced Renfe to suspend for hours its services between Madrid and Galicia. Yesterday afternoon the operator He already advanced The stoppage of the trains because the flames were close to the tracks between Vilavella and Galicia Porta and the final blockade It was confirmed hours later. The Initial idea It was resume the services today, but it could not be so. At 7.30 h the operators still They kept examining The ways to confirm that traffic will be recovered with guarantees. Shortly before ten Renfe published in X A message Informing the restoration of the service, but the decision lasted little. Hour and a half after He turned back: “For fire reactivation, the rail service between Madrid and Galicia is interrupted again.” Later Renfe went up A new tweet clarifying that he had been forced to interrupt the circulation between Puebla de Sanabria and Ourense by order of the Cecopi of Castilla y León (Civil Protection). “The traying trains will be separated in stations until the circulation is guaranteed,” he concluded. Click on the image to go to Tweet. Is it the only one affected? No. So far this fire has affected other sections in which Renfe operates. The flames have interfered in the service with greater or less reach in Castilla-La Mancha, Catalonia, Castilla y León either Estremaduraamong other points. In June A fire Between the stations of Valladolid-Campo Grande and Río Duero forced to suspend the high-speed service in the Madrid-Segovia-Valladolid and Madrid-Gijón lines and In July The flames forced to paralyze the line by which the bird that connects Madrid and Andalusia. Is it something exceptional? To a greater or lesser extent, Spain usually looks like forest fires in summer (more than more than 47,700 hectares) and It is not strange that in some cases the fire affects the rail network. In this case, the flames, especially those of Galicia, who have altered the corridor that communicates the community with Madrid for hours, they arrive, however, in a summer in which Renfe has had to deal with other challenges. The campaign began with A considerable chaos in one of the main arteries of the Spanish high speed Redee: the line between Madrid and Andalusia. A fault In a catenary between the Yeles (Toledo) and La Sagra, southwest of the Community of Madrid, affected the services that connected with the South and forced to suspend trains, generated delays and left a notable anger among the affected travelers. “We have been trapped in the middle of a plain, without electricity or bathrooms, with unbearable heat,” He denounced A user in X. Has anything else happened? That episode came shortly after, in May, the operator had to deal with Another chaotic episode in the AVE Madrid-Sevilla that left trains detained for hours and thousands of affected passengers. The reason on that occasion was not a fire, but the theft of copper cable on the tracks, which even led Renfe’s president to publicly lament how difficult it is to control the vast network of the country. “You cannot monitor 24 hours 15,000 km of network, but you will have to put more means,” assumed Álvaro Fernández de Heredia. With that backdrop, in recent weeks Renfe has faced Another controversyalthough of a quite different nature. A few days ago it transcended that Renfe has decided to do without the Avril trains (106 series) in his Madird-Barcelona line and replace them with convoys series 103. The decision comes after the operator detected technical problems in the machinery and forced him to make a ‘sudoku’ to relocate trains of series 103 and 102 to meet the demand. Is it all negative? No. Summer may be more moved than Renfe wanted, but has started with an important level of demand. A few days ago the operator launched A statement To show that Julio closed with his “best monthly historical record of travelers” in AVE and long distance. Throughout the month he counted about 3.5 million travelers, 4.6% more than in June, which held so far the “historical maximum”. The increase is based on high -speed services (AVE and AVLO), which saw how their place offer It increased by 13.9% and the flow of travelers 10.5% compared to 2024. The highest rise were registered between Madrid-Valencia and Zaragoza-Barcelona. Images | Ministry of Defense (X) and John Worth (Flickr) In Xataka | Fire have made a new high -risk activity today in Spain: living near the mountain

In Spain there is no summer without forest fires. Nor in which you do not talk about the fearsome rule of 30-30-30

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In Spain there is no summer without beaches. Nor without fire. Fire is hitting areas of Galicia, Castilla y León, Catalonia either Andalusia, sweeping hectaresforcing to evacuate hundreds of people and affecting even to icons like the place of Las Médulasin the Bierzo. With that backdrop, firefighters remain attentive to a key factor in forest fires. Which? The ‘rule of 30-30-30’. What is the ‘Rule of 30-30-30’? A formula that helps us understand when the elements play against firefighters and favor of forest fires. It is not new And it has above all a didactic dimension, but if something cannot be denied to the ‘Rule 30-30-30’ (o ‘rule of 30’) is that it is intuitive. Basically, what identifies are those scenarios in which the temperature exceeds 30ºC, the wind gusts exceed 30 km/Hy the relative humidity is below 30%, conditions that facilitate the expansion of the flames. Why is it interesting? Because as remember The University of Chile (Uchile) offers “an alert signal”, an indicator that recalls that there have been a cluster of “very favorable conditions” to spread the fire. “The origin of the term is not scientifically demonstrated, but approaches the conditions of extreme care that the manager should take knowledge to take measures,” Miguel Castillo explainsCenter researcher. The ‘Rule of 30-30-30’ stands out for its practical nature, especially when planning fire prevention strategies and informing the population. “It’s useful”, summarize The academic. “For example, if the meteorology indicates that in 72 hours a burst of permanent and dry wind will arrive and the conditions will not fall from the 30ºC or 32ºC, the communities should establish certain mechanisms.” Do more factors influence? Yes. Perhaps heat, intense winds and low humidity are “the ingredients of a perfect storm” for the spread of forest fires, but castle itself remember that there is another crucial factor: the human. Their own data The Ministry of Environment shows that a good part of the great fires that are declared in Spain cause them accidents, negligence or even intentionally. WWF in fact calculates that 95% of fires respond to human causes and 53% are deliberately caused. Man also influences the state of the fields and mountains. “The strong depopulation and rural aging, the cessation of traditional agricultural activities, the absence of forest exploitation and serious policies that manage the territory has transformed the territory,” Remember wwf. “This increase in forest surface does not translate into the increase in healthy, stable and diverse forests. The cultivated and grazing areas in the past are today covered by thickets, young pioneer or monoespecific rods that, without adequate management, are condemned to burn sooner or later. “ Is the ’30’ rule fulfilled? As Castillo recalls, the ‘Rule 30-30-30’ is useful when preventing disasters and alerting the population. Reality however is something more complex. A few years ago Civio analyzed The large forest fires registered between 2007 and 2016 and proved how many of them were adjusted to the ’30 rule’, that is, they had given the mercury above 30ºC, wind gusts of more than 30 km/hyo a humidity of less than 30%. What did you find out? That were adjusted to those parameters 72 of a total of 196 fires, about 37%. The key is again the one that slides the Chilean expert: at stake more factors enter the strictly climatic. “In the devastating expansion of a great fire you have to take into account other variables such as the type of vegetation and topography,” Comment Miguel Ángel Soto, from Greenpeace. Going down to detail. If we analyze the different factors of the ‘rule of 30’ separately, we verify, however, they do influence forest fires. Of the 196 registered fires between 2007 and 2016, in 153 the windfall exceeded 30 km/h. In 80 the temperatures reached or exceeded 30ºC. “The great fires occur by a cocktail effect: the more elements introduce in the shaker, the more possibilities you have to face an ungovernable fire,” agrees Soto “If the ‘rule of 30’ is fulfilled we will be facing the worst possible scenario, but if there are two variables it is also serious.” The last fires that have hit in recent days Galicia, Castilla y León, Andalusia either Cataloniasweeping thousands of hectares, have coincided with a heat wave. In the Bierzo, which has seen the medulla, the thermometer passes from 30ºC with relative humidity levels that have been below 30%. Image | Civil Guard (X) In Xataka | In 1993, an author predicted devastating fires in Los Angeles of 2025 and the “Make America Great Again”

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