Government will declare areas worst hit by wildfires in Spain as 'disaster' zones

Spanish PM Pedro Sánchez has announced that next Tuesday the top government ministers will declare those areas most affected by the devastating wave of forest fires currently raging in the northwest of Spain as 'disaster' zones. It will have the most impact on the provinces of Orense, Zamora, León and the region of Extremadura. From the command post in Jarilla (Cáceres), where he met with the technicians who are in charge of extinguishing this fire, which is still out of control and which has already burnt more than 15,500 hectares, Pedro Sánchez stressed that in a crisis of this nature, "institutional loyalty, the desire for shared collaboration and regional solidarity and solidarity between countries is fundamental".

Accompanied by the President of the Junta de Extremadura, María Guardiola, the head of central government announced that he is preparing aid for the fires once the "economic impact" of the crisis and the state resources that will accompany "the task of reconstruction" have been quantified.

Sánchez from the PSOE political party also took advantage of his appearance to defend the need for a state pact to alleviate the effects of climate change, as he has put on the table and which the opposition Partido Popular has branded a "smokescreen". "Science and common sense tell us that the climate is changing, that the climate emergency is changing and that it is having a greater and greater impact. There is only one answer: institutional unity.

After his visit to Jarandillas, the PM will go to Molezuelas de la Caballeda (Zamora) in the afternoon, together with the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, another of the worst affected areas in the current wave of fires.