A forestry campaign marked by three years of drought begins

The month of May has been the exception, the rains have given the firefighters a certain respite, indeed, but Catalonia has more than three years of drought; in fact, 2022 was the driest year since the decade of the fifties of the last century, as the Minister of Climate Action of the Generalitat, Teresa Jordà, recalled yesterday, coinciding with the start of the forestry campaign, 15 days earlier than usual.

Jordà and his counterpart from the Interior, Joan Ignasi Elena, yesterday called on the public to be aware of the situation due to extreme weather conditions, in the presentation of the information campaign against the risk of fire, under the slogan “Foc off”, aimed at young people. Elena emphasized that, in addition to providing more personnel (250 firefighters and 100 more forest agents) and more resources to the prevention and extinguishing bodies, another factor that will be decisive in preventing the spread of fires is citizen responsibility, since nine out of ten fires are caused by human action.

At the origin of 96% of the fires in 2023 is the hand of man, be it due to negligence, an accident or, in the worst case, to cause it intentionally. Only the remaining 4% is due to natural causes.

“The water in May has not changed the concept of the campaign, it has given us a few days of tranquility, but the world we live in is the same, the reality is harsh”, added the Minister of the Interior, Elena

The forestry campaign, which involves an increase in resources, will last until September 30, 15 days later than in previous years.

“We have more forests than ever, very young forests with very high tree densities that have not been sufficiently managed, we have almost continuous stretches of forest mass that in the event of a fire are fire highways,” said Teresa Jordà. Stressed and weak trees due to the scarcity of water and the progressive abandonment of the rural world feed a dangerous cocktail.

Since January, Catalonia has recorded up to 2,766 vegetation fires, 11% more than during the same period in 2022 and 35% more than in 2021, with a total of 875 hectares burned up to May 28. This is the highest figure in the last decade.