Some Penedès farmer privately claims that it is more profitable for the roe deer to eat the shoots of the vines and collect the corresponding compensation than to sell the grapes at ridiculous prices, just around 20 cents per kilo. This and other cases that exemplify the precariousness of the field hide an impact beyond the income statement of the farmer in question. Sooner or later, if the numbers do not work out, these vineyards could be abandoned and the process of expanding the forest area would go ahead. This case serves to explain that for a fire to spread, many factors influence it: drought, rising temperatures and wind, but also the abandonment of the rural world, which in recent decades has encouraged the growth of the forest and the accumulation of fuel that feeds the flames.
The Fire Department of the Generalitat, and specifically the Forest Action Group (GRAF), with Marc Castellnou at the head, do not get tired of repeating that they promote a mosaic landscape, which integrates various types of vegetation, with pastures, different species of 'trees, vines and orchards, is an antidote against fire that the Administration and society should promote more decisively, in the current context of alarming climate change.
Every morning the managers of the different operational groups of the Fire Brigade meet in Bellaterra to analyze the conditions that can lead to fires in each of the seven emergency regions established in Catalonia. If at the beginning of May the situation was critical and of unknown dimensions, with areas such as Terres de l'Ebre at level 4, on a scale of 1 to 6 fire risk, the rains of the last few weeks have given a truce Yesterday, according to the Fire Brigade's forecast map, the danger was low or moderate in the whole of Catalonia. But Josep Pallàs, chief of guard of the central room of Bellaterra, remarked on Friday that we should not trust ourselves, "we are in a moment of impasse, but the summer is expected to be complicated, there are hedges and trees touched to death by structural drought, there is a lot of biomass. We must be aware of where we live and that people keep the plots clean". Pallas notes that in April, when the horizon was very black, summer fires occurred.
This is the first forestry campaign by the Fire Department that lasts for four months, its start has been brought forward fifteen days, on June 1st, and will last another fifteen days at the end, until September 30th. "The campaign has been deseasonalized due to this historic drought," comments inspector Oriol Corbella. Until the last rains arrived, every day the Firefighters witnessed historic lows in rainfall and highs in temperature, Corbella points out. "The vegetation is not used to this climate, it gets stressed, dries up, pests appear that weaken it more. In addition to forest management, the most important thing is to promote activity in the rural world, encourage farmers to maintain a mosaic landscape", he adds.
Climate change outlines an uncertain future in an unknown terrain for the Firefighters, as indicated by Corbella. "One of the things we learn is to manage uncertainty, until May we had never had such a drought. The recent rains give us about 15 days of peace, but if the wind blows... In any case, this will not be a better season, it will be normal", considers Corbella.
The horizon that global warming has drawn around the world has fueled fires that have ravaged tens of thousands of hectares, even hundreds of thousands in the worst cases, and that exceed the extinguishing capacity. This scenario has led to a change in work philosophy. "What we've made the most progress in recent years has been strategy, the GRAF analysts tell us how the fire will evolve and we make decisions based on this information", adds Corbella.
This is how they acted in June 2022 in the face of simultaneous fires in Noguera, Solsonès, Alt Urgell and Terra Alta. “We looked at how each one was evolving to determine which ones could cause more serious problems rather than going straight for the attack to try to shut them down. It's about seeing the growth potential of each focus to go there in a preventive way before it gets out of hand, also act where the flames are lower and can be smothered, not where they are more virulent; in short, we go to the places where with the least effort we will have the maximum benefit, in this way we optimize resources", explains Etel Arilla, GRAF sub-inspector.
Arilla states that Catalonia is exposed to large fires if the conditions are right on specific days. That's why every morning a thorough analysis is done to be prepared for the worst.
"What we have undone in 40 years we will not fix in 2, we must do more forest management and defend the primary sector, pay more to the farmer so that he does not leave the field. When the flames find a landscape with different structures, forest, pastures, orchards, olive trees..., it loses strength, it has less fuel", insists Arilla. Currently, 66% of Catalonia's surface is forested.
The dense forest has given way to crops and has created masses of vegetation that can act as fire roads.
"The forest grows every year at the rate of three million cubic meters, but only 30% of this wood or firewood is used", laments Joan Roura, secretary of the Forest Management Consortium of Catalonia. "In terms of forest area, we have reached a maximum figure, we do not have historical records that give us equivalent data. It is necessary to cut down trees to eliminate competition and make them more vigorous and resistant to drought and fire", adds Roura, who advocates for more subsidies that make forestry activities profitable and for less bureaucracy.
From Acció Climàtica, the director of Forest Ecosystems, Anna Sanitjas, indicates that "in subsidies for forest management alone, it has gone from 8 million in 2020 to 17 in 2022", but emphasizes that what we are talking about is "reactivate the sector, so that people can earn a living" and not depend on public aid. The challenge, he adds, is that 60% of the forests are managed, compared to the current 30%.
Drought and pests affect the health of the trees, some die and others subsist at half throttle. Sanitjas indicates that 30% suffer from defoliation.
"In 2022, we came up with a plan of 18 million euros to facilitate the actions of the Fire Department in the event of a fire, which consisted of fixing roads, clearing the undergrowth in strategic areas, installing and maintaining water points, protecting the strips of urbanisations..., but they are actions in the uci. To take a step forward, we must remove trees, make those that remain stronger, and return to the mosaic landscape", underlines Sanitjas. A difficult challenge, since as indicated by Raquel Serrat, head of the rural world at the Unió de Pagesos trade union, agricultural holdings continue to be abandoned and the generational succession is almost a chimera, because only 9% of farmers are under 40 years old.
