Reacción a "The wildfire in Los Gallardos (Almería) has left at least 12 people dead"

Fires are all similar in their causes, but not in their impact. Environmental conditions, management, and the social and economic context lead to differences among fires in terms of damage and losses. This fire is comparable to the Pedrógão Grande (Portugal) wildfire of June 2017, in which victims were trapped in the midst of the blaze. People attempting to evacuate do so improperly—by taking inadvisable routes, using inappropriate modes of transportation, or leaving too late. What makes the Almería fire unique is that the victims are mostly foreign nationals. Tourists arrive at a destination and are unfamiliar with the area; they do not inform themselves about risk conditions, and they are not informed of these conditions at their accommodations or of evacuation plans—if any exist—to know how to respond appropriately. But these conditions are, paradoxically, similar to those faced by the local population. In the emergency response, there is a strong emphasis on mechanical, technological, and human resources, but less consideration is given to the local population, which is typically not integrated into the response. The plans barely involve the population in early warning, response, and evacuation. The prevailing approach fails to incorporate early action by the local population. The dominant model is paternalistic and socially exclusionary. The emergency response to wildfires is more efficient in terms of fire suppression in areas with low population density, where measures can be implemented without needing to take the local population into account; however, it becomes more complex in areas with higher density and dispersed settlements. However, firefighting resources are increasingly insufficient, no matter how much public investment increases, since the intensity of the fires exceeds the capacity of an autonomous community, a nation, or even the European Union. We have seen some examples of this in recent years. Year after year, wildfires take center stage again because their root causes are not addressed: climate change, changes in land use—with agricultural areas being replaced by trees and shrubs—and the expansion of scattered settlements in suburban and rural areas. Fires are becoming more severe each year because plans are made to extinguish them—which is necessary—by investing more in response resources, but there is no investment in changing the conditions that prevent their spread or that allow them to reach high intensity, through landscape planning and the integration of local communities into decision-making. Managing fire risk will be very difficult this year, but next year will be worse if the same approach to public policy continues. Furthermore, any policy changes will only have an impact in the medium term, and decision-makers are not in a position to take measures with an impact that extends beyond their terms in office.