The Generalitat Valenciana will publish tomorrow in the DOGV a resolution suspending authorizations for agricultural burning until next October 15. The measure brings the date forward almost two months, as this suspension was scheduled to come into force on June 15. The decision was made in a coordinated meeting between Agriculture and the Interior, both ministries in the hands of Vox.
The lack of rain, which in some areas has risen to 90%, water stress and excessively high temperatures for this time of year are the reasons given by the Minister of Justice and Interior, Elisa Núñez, for addressing this measure. Núñez has reported the decision at the advanced command post of the Tàrbena fire, where work against the fire continues.
The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, Carlos Mazón, also appeared at the advanced command post, and reported after 3 p.m. that the burned hectares are already close to 600.
The latest update on the fire indicates that the deployment of ground troops is made up of forest firefighters from the Generalitat Valenciana, Alicante Provincial Consortium, State Security Forces and Corps, UME and environmental agents. The 8 aerial means (6 from the Generalitat and 2 from the State) working on extinction have carried out around 400 discharges between yesterday and today. Meanwhile, 180 people remain evicted: 100 belong to Tàrbena and another 80 people to Parcent.
Likewise, the Government delegate, Pilar Bernabé, also appeared this Monday and added that two other people had to be evicted tonight from a scattered house in the neighboring town of Xaló.
Although the reasons for the fire have not been clarified, the Minister of the Interior pointed out in a first intervention this Sunday that the accumulation of biomass in the area had caused the fire to spread “like a powder keg.” For her part, the Government delegate explained that the Civil Guard continues to investigate the causes of the fire, which points to an agricultural burn. “We cannot specify the specific number of damaged structures, but we have units from the EMU and firefighters guaranteeing that the fire does not affect,” added the delegate.
This Monday, and in response to questions from the media, Councilor Núñez assured that since the legislature began, “alternatives” to agricultural burning have been sought. This Monday, the pre-emergency level due to fire risk is extreme for the entire Valencian Community, according to the alert issued by the Valencian Community Emergencies.
The State Meteorological Agency in Valencia explains that these compound extreme episodes are “probably already more frequent due to climate change. And, with high probability, the simultaneous occurrence of heat waves and droughts in our geographical environment will increase.”
They explain that the situation of recent months “fits with a scenario of compound extreme phenomena that is also one of the consequences of climate change, in which at least two adverse situations occur simultaneously. In this case, anomalous heat and meteorological drought” .
