The forest fire campaign in Terres de l'Ebre (Tarragona) has closed with a balance of 27 forest fires and 37.09 hectares burned.
The most important fires were those in Perelló (Baix Ebre) and the two consecutive ones in Tivissa with 20.59 and 8.05 hectares affected, respectively.
This Monday, the emergency bodies assessed the data as very positive, especially because it began with a spring with many fires and conditions of high risk of onset that have improved some episodes of rain. Level 3 of Pla Alfa has been activated up to four times, with multi-day closures of access to massifs such as Port, Cardó-Boix or Llaveria, during two critical episodes of hot winds and high temperatures.
The balance of the forestry campaign is 27 fires of forest vegetation, according to data from the Rural Agents, and 39 forest fires, 56 of agricultural vegetation and 38 of urban vegetation, according to data from the Firefighters of the Generalitat.
As the head of the emergency region, Ricard Expósito, has pointed out, these 133 fires are well below the average of the last 23 years, which is 199 fires per campaign. In Catalonia there have been 1,933.
The rains at the end of spring and those that have occurred during the summer have favored the conditions of the Terres de l'Ebre, which have also stopped leading the rankings of large fires of the decade. The last one that burned in Ribera d'Ebre was in 2019.
Expósito has highlighted that the data is very positive if one takes into account that the Ebro is "the third largest emergency region" in the country and is the one with the largest forest area percentage-wise and with the worst conditions due to the potential for burning if produces a fire.
The majority of the 133 registered fires occurred in Baix Ebre (46.6%) and Montsià (27.1%). In 92.3% of the cases, the notice came through 112, that is, with the collaboration of civil society that has become the main watchdog – this figure was 63.2% in 2000 -.
In the vast majority, the Firefighters were the first to arrive at the scene and did so in an average time of 14 minutes, in the case of forest fires.
According to Rural Agents, there have been 70 forest fires so far this year in Terres de l'Ebre, many during the spring (27 in summer). Most of them are caused by human activity, and in many cases due to negligence and intentionality. Only 13% have occurred this year due to natural causes.
This means that the most populated regions and areas concentrate the "hot zones", where there are more fires. In the largest fires of the summer, the cause was lightning from a dry storm the day before in Tivissa, the origin of the Perelló fire is still being investigated.
The emergency forces insist that despite closing the forestry campaign, which this year has been extended by a month, from June 1 to September 30, the risk remains high. "We are celebrating that the campaign has gone well and a job has been well done by everyone, but things do not happen when we receive notices but when we are all calm, such as, for example, when it is less hot, more humid, when it does not look "There should be a fire, but it's not like that," warned Olalla Bueno, sub-inspector of the Rural Agents Corps.
Bueno has warned that the vegetation is still stressed after a summer and many months of drought and that it is time to carry out a lot of prevention and strict compliance with safety conditions, especially with the lifting of the restriction on agricultural creams. "We need a thousand eyes, more than ever, because it has gone very well so far but we cannot let our guard down," he asked.
