The image of the day after the forest fires is that of blackened mountains, charred trees and smoking houses.
After the worst, the effects of that fire are measured in hectares, in burned wooded area.
Rarely is it measured how many people have suffered the flames and what they did, especially during the days or weeks in which they were fought against them at the foot of the mountain.
This summer's fires have already caused two deaths, injured 58 people and forced the evacuation of almost 23,948 people between June 8 and August 7, according to a report on the fires in Spain by the General Directorate of Civil protection.
Castilla y León breaks all records: it is the community with the most victims, the most reported fires, large and small,
Civil Protection, dependent on the Ministry of the Interior, details in the balance that it has disclosed this week, the circumstances in which the deaths and injuries have occurred in the firefighting work.
The vast majority of the victims (one of the deceased and 37 of the injured) are members of the extinction services, but also neighbors who lent a hand or who were being evacuated.
The report highlights that 2022 has been the worst in the last five years in civil protection incidents.
The most serious fire is the one that broke out in Losacio (Zamora) on July 17: a member of the firefighting crews in Ferreruela de Tábara died, as well as a neighbor from Escober de Tábara.
In addition, there were 14 injuries: 9 workers from the fire operation due to smoke inhalation;
three evacuees from Sesnández de Tábara, one of them in serious condition, and two men who helped in the extinction work, with serious burns.
With 28,813 hectares officially burned and 2,700 people evacuated, it is the largest fire in surface area burned in the summer, followed by another in the same province and area: Ríofrío de Aliste, where 14,073.86 hectares were burned and one person was injured (an operator bulldozer of the Junta de Castilla y León, with burns on his hands).
Start date | name of the fire | Province | number of injured | Facts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
June 8 | pujarra | Malaga | 3 | Infoca forest firefighters. One of them serious, with second degree burns |
June, 15 | Corbera d'Ebre | Tarragona | 1 | One firefighter slightly injured. |
June, 15 | Riofrío de Aliste | Zamora | 1 | A bulldozer operator from the Junta de Castilla y León, with burns on his hands. |
June 16 | Nonaspe | Saragossa | 1 | A man, with burns on his hands |
June 18 | Olivella | Barcelona | 1 | A Sergeant from Seprona, slightly intoxicated by smoke inhalation. |
July 5th | Aranjuez | Madrid | 4 | Three firefighters and a local police officer slightly injured. |
July 11 | falsetto | Tarragona | 1 | A mildly intoxicated person. |
July 11 | Monsagro | Salamanca | 1 | A firefighter from the Diputación de Salamanca with a cut after a fall, treated at a health center. |
July 14 | Carballeda de Valdeorras | Ourense | 1 | A man caught in the flames while riding a motorcycle, with very serious burns. |
July 15 | Chipiona | Cadiz | 5 | Three members of the Civil Guard with minor burns and intoxication due to smoke inhalation. Two people assisted for smoke inhalation |
July 17th | Losacio | Zamora | 14 | Nine workers from the fire operation injured by smoke inhalation. Three people injured during the evacuation of Sesnández de Tábara, one of them seriously. Two men helping. |
July 17th | The Pont de Vilomara i Rocafort | Barcelona | 8 | Treated for burns, anxiety attacks and smoke inhalation. |
July 18 | Douro oil mill | Zamora | 1 | A forest firefighter, with serious burns. |
July 19 | Domingo Flórez Bridge | Lion | 4 | Members of the UME due to a truck accident, when giving up the land. |
July 23th | Yunquera de Henares | Guadalajara | 1 | A farmer who helped in the extinction tasks seriously injured by burns |
July 24 | Coconut Quintanilla | Burgos | two | Two people slightly injured by burns. |
July 25 | Humans | Guadalajara | 1 | A pilot slightly injured when his helicopter crashed. |
July 25 | Bridge Pines | Grenade | 3 | Three Infoca personnel assisted by medical services due to heat stroke. |
July 27th | Castrelo de Miño | Ourense | 1 | A brigade member slightly injured by burns on one arm. |
July 29 | Collado del Mirón | Avila | two | Two brigade members treated for smoke and intense heat; one of them with minor burns. |
August 4th | Boiro | A Coruna | 1 | A forest firefighter with minor burns on one foot |
August 5 | Holy Cross of the Valley | Avila | 1 | A forest firefighter from the BRIF of Puerto El Pico with a sprained knee. |
Castilla y León has been the community most affected by the fires, in number of reported fires, burnt area, deaths, injuries, evacuees and declared emergency situations, but also the region that has most often received the support of the State media, from the UME to the means of extinction dependent on the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.
The community co-governed by the PP and Vox has registered 13 of the 35 large fires declared between June 8 and July 5, and almost 70,000 hectares of its territory have been grazed by flames, two thirds in the province of Zamora.
In general, it has reported 83 fires, compared to 78 in Galicia, the two communities most affected by fire this year.
A total of 9,455 people had to be evacuated from their homes in the fires in Zamora, Ávila and Salamanca.
The report highlights that the Military Emergency Unit has intervened in 45 fires, all in operational situation 2, high risk.
A third of these interventions have been carried out in Castilla y León.
A total of 19 of the fires caused damage to infrastructure.
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