Forest firefighters insist that "the mountains have been abandoned for more than 30 years"

In the management of forest fires in recent days, much has been said about the large amount of abandoned biomass that covers the Valencian mountains. Emergencies of the Valencian Community recognized that in the area of ??the Tàrbena fire, which burned nearly 700 hectares, there was a lot of unburned area (“a lot of fuel, very dry”) that worried the agents. But the fuse of the controversy had been lit before, when the Minister of Justice and Interior, Elisa Núñez, pointed out on Sunday afternoon that the actions of the Botànic government had been “negligent” in the previous eight years, since there were many uncleaned forest mass that had caught fire “like a powder keg.”

The parties now in opposition – Compromís and PSPV – entered the discussion and the political anger soon escalated on social networks as well. However, far from hailing one or the other, the Valencian forest firefighters remember that the abandonment of the mountain is not a thing of now, “nor eight years ago either, this has been happening for more than 30 years. The mountain is abandoned,” explains Antonio Criado, forest firefighter of the Generalitat Valenciana and member of CCOO-PV.

He assures that now there is more recurrence of fires and that “they are going to get worse and worse,” he maintains. In agreement with this idea is Miquel Ferris, president of the works council and spokesperson for the unions (CGT, CSIF, UGT, CCOO, EMAD and Spplb) who this Wednesday went out together in a demonstration in the center of Valencia to demand against the Generalitat Valenciana a series of improvements, fundamental for the service, as they defend. “We have had three or four very complicated years now. Before there was a fire season, but now it is continuous and there are those, like Vox, who do not want to recognize climate change,” says Ferris.

They demand the approval of the collective agreement that gives job stability to the staff, the expansion of the workforce and the implementation of a third shift, and have warned that if their demands are not met they will be forced to call an indefinite strike. “If we don’t have a third shift, when there are fires like this, on the second day we run out of spare parts… people have to rest,” explains Miquel Ferris, whose video on the social network “X” during the Valencia demonstration It was the cause of insult by a PP councilor in Albalat dels Sorells, whom Carlos Mazón himself disavowed yesterday with another message. “My respect to the group that fights against fire and protects our mountains,” said the head of the Consell.

The firefighters, who ended the protest at the Palau de la Generalitat, asked to speak again with Minister Núñez, who appeared before the media to explain the management of her department. “The demands of the forest firefighters are historical and we are working to solve them in the shortest possible time, but in eight months we cannot fix the problems of eight years,” said Núñez. Criado responds that “they say they have a project, but we only see cuts after cuts, and that also affects security.” This Thursday it was announced that the president of the Generalitat Valenciana and the Minister of Justice will meet with the union representatives of forest firefighters next Tuesday, April 23.

“If you turn to the EMU shortly after a fire starts, something is happening,” Criado adds about the Tàrbena fire to focus on the lack of personnel that they denounce. And the protest by the forest firefighters, led by more than 300 agents, coincided with the fire that broke out on Sunday afternoon in Tàrbena, the last major forest fire and the second in importance in the same weekend in Alicante. When this was declared, those evicted from Xàbia and Gata de Gorgos could return to their homes after the fire on Saturday.

There is no truce, they say. And farmers have also repeatedly focused on cleaning the mountains. In fact, the Valencian Association of Farmers (AVA-ASAJA), with data from the Esyrce survey of the Ministry of Agriculture, pointed out a few months ago how last year it left another 2,290 hectares of crops abandoned in the Valencian Community. The association assures that there is a “historical record” of agricultural land left uncultivated, with 173,676 hectares. “We have been warning the political class and society as a whole for many years that the best fire prevention is to keep the fields cultivated, which are the green forest that does not burn. While abandoned plots accelerate the speed of the flames, cultivated plots slow the progress of the fire and serve as a safety zone for firefighters. If we have reached this very worrying situation, it is due to the lack of policies to guarantee decent profitability in agriculture,” says its president, Cristóbal Aguado.

The origin, explains Miquel Ferris, lies in the rural exodus of the sixties and the problem is that the majority of those lands you now abandon are privately owned. That is why he proposes that formulas be sought, such as granting economic incentives to those entities or people that clean the fields in which they usually work.

There are also other proposals, such as the project carried out by the municipalities of Bicorp and Albocàsser together with the Center for Environmental Studies of the Mediterranean and the Association of Forest Municipalities of the Valencian Community (AMUFOR) to address prevention with “pastures-Firebreaks”. ”- They are innovative pilot experiences that aim to promote the use of pastures as firebreak areas and establish economically viable livestock farms that contribute to sustainable agroforestry management and the recovery of abandoned terraces.

One of the proposals that firefighters agree to share is that controlled burning by forestry crews would be a possible solution to clear the mountains where it is now increasingly difficult to access. The ban on agricultural burning that the Consell imposed on Tuesday after the Tàrbena fire, in a context of high fire risk due to temperatures, has angered farmers. LA UNIÓ listed the risks (accumulation of very dry forest mass or diseases, which can increase in the presence of plant remains) and is committed to encouraging extensive livestock farming to prevent fires and paying farmers and ranchers for the services they provide to the society.

The association proposes aid for cultivating agricultural strips that border forest areas, something that “would prevent a large number of fires and save a large amount of public money, since these agricultural lands are the first to be abandoned due to their low profitability. ”, explains Carles Peris, its general secretary. “It would be the payment of ecosystem work to farmers and ranchers for cultivating, from which the entire society subsequently benefits,” says Carles Peris, alluding to one of the measures contemplated by the CAP.