The premature fires that are ravaging various parts of the Valencian mountains at the beginning of spring have heated up the political atmosphere and caused a bitter exchange of accusations between the opposition and the Consell chaired by Carlos Mazón. Yesterday, the message was sent from the socialist ranks that “we are in the wrong hands”, in reference to the management that the Ministry of Justice, Interior and Public Administrations, directed by Elisa Núñez (Vox), is doing in the chapter. of forest fire prevention.
It was the spokesperson in Les Corts, José Muñoz, who was in charge of accusing President Carlos Mazón of “leaving aside the fire prevention and extinguishing service in the Valencian Community.” Muñoz assured that “we socialists offered a pact for emergencies to which we have not yet received a response,” and criticized Mazón for blaming “everything on inheritance” and not visiting the site of the fire, which the head of the Consell did at noon. from yesterday.
The socialists blame “the denialist extreme right” and consider that the Generalitat is not prepared to face a fire campaign that, as a result of climate change, “is now throughout the year.”
The spokesperson for Justice of the Socialist Group in Les Corts, Alicia Andújar, went further when denouncing that “the lives of professionals are being put at risk.” According to Andújar, “when 14 million euros disappear from the Emergency budget, these things happen.” In her opinion, forest firefighters suffer from “the lack of planning and absolute improvisation” of the regional government and “they do not have the necessary means to deal with fires.”
Another criticism was made by the Compromís deputy Gerard Fullana, who asked the Consell for explanations for the “contradictions” in the prediction of the risk of fire in Tárbena with respect to the forecasts of the Spanish Meteorological Agency, which placed the region at high risk. when the fire broke out, apparently due to agricultural burning that, in such a context, should not have been allowed, according to Fullana.
In fact, the Generalitat decided at noon yesterday, as Mazón himself announced on the ground, to bring forward the ban on carrying out these burnings by two months, due to the extreme weather and dry conditions, which recommend taking precautions that under normal conditions They are reserved for the summer season. “The reason why it has not been suspended before is because the objective conditions were not met,” said Mazón.
Now, however, the situation is “special risk” as it exceeds level 1, due to the “notable deficit in rainfall; unusually high temperatures for a long period of time; the strong and remote land winds, the high water stress of very dry vegetation with a low moisture content.
The opposition's criticisms did not go unanswered. The Ombudsman of the PP in Les Corts, Miguel Barrachina, counterattacked by ensuring that the Community and its natural spaces have suffered “years of absolute abandonment” with the Botànic, which makes fighting the fire “enormously complex”, despite the fact that this year "the hiring of new personnel has been anticipated."
Barrachina assured that the Consell is carrying out “the maximum of efforts to effectively advance the fight against fires that occur earlier every day and last much longer than in previous years,” he said. And he insisted that the Department of Justice has advanced the hiring
