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

Over 3,000 hectares have been burnt, and that’s a massive amount. There have been bigger fires, but this covers a huge area. It’s not normal for fires of this scale to occur in Mediterranean landscapes. In most cases, with fires of this magnitude – for example, the one in Pedrógão Grande in Portugal in 2017, which claimed 64 lives, many of whom were trapped in their cars whilst trying to flee – what is actually happening? The local vegetation is burning with great intensity. Many areas of our landscape have been afforested to prevent desertification, creating a uniform landscape of pine trees at the expense of less visually striking vegetation, such as esparto grasslands or other scrubland. In the east, these are Pinus halepensis, a native species that has undergone significant artificial selection through domestication and is highly successful. They are veritable powder kegs. They burn with such intensity that they become unstoppable hotspots; moreover, their cones burst open like embers and spread the fire even further. Mega-fires are associated with forest plantations, as I explained in an article in The Conversation.