The evolution of the great fires that is positive and every day that passes the situation, in general, improves. But little by little. Very slowly. This was stated this Sunday the Director of Civil Protection and Emergencies, Virginia Barcones, who confirmed that there are still 15 serious fires in the country. In the press conference held after the meeting of the State Committee for Coordination and Directorate of the National Civil Portation System (CEDOD), Barcones recalled that the meteorological forecast that blows the southern wind increases the risk that the flames will be revived. But he clarified that the gradual descent but constant temperatures in the affected areas, especially at night, could allow an improvement of the crisis. In any case, he has asked not to lower the guard, because in some areas the risk remains high or extreme.
It is what happened, that he jumped from Zamora to León, putting at risk the more than 300 inhabitants of the town of La Baña, who had to be evicted. Or what happened on Sunday afternoon in that of Garaño, also in León, which went on to threaten nine populations, whose inhabitants had to be evacuated. These are small locations. Viñayo, the largest, has 80 inhabitants.
In Castilla y León there are still ten serious fires. In Asturias three are still active: in Degaña, Cangas del Narcea and Somiedo, which have already consumed more than 6,000 hectares. The president of the Principality, Adrián Barbón, acknowledged this Sunday: “They are not being easy days” and warned that the burned areas must still be perimeter. “We are containing the situation waiting for the environmental situation to change – a decrease in temperatures and greater humidity with north wind or rain – to be able to attack these fronts,” he added.
The panorama improves in Galicia, in the province of Ourense, from afar, the most punished by fire. The Ourensano newspaper The region He calculated that after two weeks of unstoppable fires, approximately 90,000 hectares have already burned, more or less 15% of the mountain of the province. This Sunday, two great fires were out of control there: that of Carbelleda de Valdeorras, which has already calcined 4,000 hectares, and that it has razed more than 30,000. The images of Carballeda on Saturday night were overwhelming, with the entire Mount Orlado of a flame crown.
However, Ourense begins to breathe. , with 44,000 hectares calcined, the most devastating in the history of Galicia, is stabilized. There is also another of the great fires that has martyred this area: that of Oimbra, with more than 28,000 hectares.
It is difficult to travel the southeast end of this province without ranking with vast extensions of calcined land. Sometimes vineyards or orchards have served as firewalls. Other times not. And it is also difficult not to meet someone to whom the fire, in one way or another, has not harmed him.
In some Verín stores (13,000 inhabitants) boats have been placed to help neighbors who have lost everything. In the villages he sleeps with an open and a closed eye because there may be what technicians call reactivations, that is, a second life for a fire that was considered off. In many cases, the roots of the trees are still burning and that can make the fire, apparently asleep, wake up. There are those who have lost their hives or cattle. In the squares of the villages, many older people continue to look sideways at the mountain. Last Friday, two older ladies in the town of Matamá began to cry when they remembered the night when they thought they had to run with what the flames were going to light the house.
The forecasts point out that on Wednesday or Thursday a rainy front will enter the region. As Asturian President Barbón said, it will be then when everything changed at once.
