Reacción a " The Ministry of Interior has declared a state of emergency of national interest in the Community of Madrid and the province of Ávila due to three forest fires"

This is the chronicle of a situation long foretold. Once we, as a society, have accepted that we are changing the climate, these fires become part of the new normal; in other words, they are exactly what we expected. For decades, it has been warned that if we continue to drive up temperatures, the consequences could be very serious, including a significant increase in the frequency, size and intensity of wildfires. With the temperatures and heatwaves we are currently experiencing, almost any type of vegetation can catch fire. Last summer we saw beech forests (Fagus sylvatica) go up in flames, something unexpected.

From an ecological point of view, it is worth remembering that many of the areas affected by fires, especially those with a Mediterranean climate, will recover and biodiversity will not be lost. The situation is more problematic in the case of fires affecting higher-altitude areas, where species are not as well adapted to fire, as is the case with the beech trees I have just mentioned.

The solutions, of course, are not straightforward, and include both tackling climate change aggressively to prevent it from getting worse, and implementing fire prevention measures better suited to the new climate. Prevention may include, amongst other actions:

1. Creating heterogeneity in the landscape (mosaics), that is, fragmenting large forest areas by alternating them with areas that are less flammable (for example, agricultural land), thereby creating landscapes that foster more sustainable fire regimes, both ecologically and socially.
2. Encouraging small, frequent, low-intensity fires, either by making use of natural fires outside the summer months or by carrying out prescribed burns.
3. Encouraging, as far as possible, extensive rural farming. The introduction of herbivores, whether native (rewilding) or livestock (private or municipal herds), can reduce the amount of fuel and, consequently, limit fires (and facilitate prescribed burning).
4. Implement aggressive vegetation management around homes in the urban-forest interface; in these areas, self-protection and the acceptance of responsibilities and costs associated with living in flammable landscapes should also be encouraged.
5. Limit the urban-forest interface, that is, restrict the expansion of housing developments and industrial estates into rural and natural areas.