When the Riotinto fire devastatingly destroyed 27,839 hectares this year in just 63 hours the newspapers were again filled with speculative stories of how it began, why it was started and where, if anywhere the finger of blame should be pointed. Almost immediately one man was denounced by a neighbour and arrested for having started the blaze. After a month in jail, he was released on bail and one of the national newspapers interviewed him. In the interview he said, perhaps unsurprisingly, that he was innocent and that the Guardia Civil had picked on him because he had a criminal record. He went on to say that because the fire had started from a number of different points, spread over several kilometers, it would not have been physically possible for him to have been in all these places at the same time. His version was that it was a group of arsonists that had started the Riotinto fire - and several other fires in neighbouring provinces - and were doing so for financial and other reasons. What, I wondered could these reasons be?
The subject, literally was very close to home. In the last 20 years at least 4 forest fires have swept the hills around my house. The last, just 5 years ago, burnt all the olive trees, encinas, alcornoques and what was then a beautiful Mediterranean pine forest that tumbled down the valley slopes to the front door of my house. At least that’s what all my neighbours told me, for I only acquired the place 18 months ago.
According to the “Junta de Andalucia” figures from 2002 there were 1.175 fires during the year throughout the 8 Provinces. 32.2 % were intentional, another 32 % were the result of negligent actions, 12 % were accidental, 20 % were of unknown causes and 3.4% were of natural causes. This meant that 96% of all the fires were caused by man. This was a frightening figure. It suggested that nature herself was not to blame.
I asked my neighbour what had caused the last fire in the valley. His gaze shifted and his shoulders twitched: “ Nunca se sabe” he replied, “ It could have been a broken bottle left on the ground, a discarded cigarette, an uncontrolled burning of “matorral”.”
It seemed to me a lame excuse to just shrug ones shoulders and accept the inevitability of such things. I knew for example that the burning of agricultural waste was, technically lat least, a very controlled practice: Earlier in the year I had approached the local town hall for permission to burn “matorral” and had been told that as my land bordered a nature park (by this I supposed he meant the rocky bare valley walls that played host to scrub and decomposing burnt pines) I would need written permission from Medio Ambiente and could only apply for such permission from the beginning of November (Burning begins in earnest from October locally). So I reapplied in November and in time a personal visit from Medio Ambiente confirmed that indeed I did have lots to burn and that permission would be granted. It arrived the end of December and gave us just two months to get it all done. The first day we started to burn a helicopter appeared above us several times before eventually departing. This was an impressive display of supervision - or so I believed at the time.
There are many rules regarding the burning of matorral. Particularly regarding the “horario” - from sun up to 2pm, and only on weekdays. Never after 2pm or on weekends nor fiestas. Finally, that the site of the burning must be supervised for at least 2 hours after the burning has stopped (in case the wind should catch the fire and bring it back alive again).
Behind our house, high up on the mountain peaks sits a Guardia Forestal building, that in theory is in use 24 hrs a day to ensure that any illegal fires are spotted and reported quickly. So when, last winter a fire broke out on the hill opposite us where a farmer was burning his cuttings and directly in front of the Observation hut, we waited secure in the knowledge that relevant authorities were being informed and were at that moment hurtling towards us with extinguishing equipment at hand. 10 mins later, and no appearance. We could see above the blaze a farmer working his land. He looked undisturbed. He was too far away for us to call him. Worried, we phoned the Guardia to report the fire. 15 minutes later a lone Guardia Civil vehicle turned up to watch the fire as it slowly extinguished itself upon reaching a recently terraced, and therefore vegetation free, patch of land. Meanwhile the farmer had lit another pile of cuttings to burn and carried on ignoring the presence of the Guardia. After 20 mins they left.
But what about the observation hut? I later read in an Interview in EL Pais on 4th August 2004, Diego Canamero of the Sindicato de Obreros de Campo said:“ Of the 231 observation towers in Andalucia only 50% are in use”.
“You got to remember, one of the problems now is the state of the land,” said our neighbour the next time he visited.” Once upon a time we would all clear the land of old wood for our fires, now it’s left to rot. Now the hills are abandoned, and where replantation has taken place, before it was eucalyptus and now its pines. These trees are no good. They are no help”.
What did he mean, ”these trees were no good”. What’s good or bad about a tree? Surely a tree is just a tree. You couldn’t blame the trees could you?
Well it appears that some trees have become adapted
to fires, like the serotin pines of Mediterranean
pinewood (P.
halepensis, P. pinea, and P.
pinaster).
Also, several species have a remarkable capacity to
sprout after fire, like Holm oak (Q.
ilex)
or kermes oak (Q.
coccifera),
or the resistance of the bark of the cork oak
(Q.
suber)
to fire. But other Pines and particularly the
eucalyptus, which was introduced in Spain in the 70’s
as part of a repopulation policy, have become fire
hazards across the whole country.
In an interview with El Pais after the Riotinto fire,
Vincente Mans, co-ordinator for the Asociacion
Espanola de Sociedades de Proteccion contra Incendios
( Aespi) said that 68% of the forest was eucalyptus,
containing a lot of resin. “ If the temperature is
high and the humidity low, then the resin becomes
very inflammable”. Once upon a time the trees were
worked and a derivative was extracted from the
trunks. However only 20% of the trees are now worked,
as it’s cheaper to import the stuff from plantations
in Brazil. As a result many plantations were
abandoned and the resins stay in the tree as
potential flammable contents.
So it appeared that you could blame the trees. But
still, whatever trees are planted they still have to
catch fire. What was it that was causing the fires in
the first place?
There appeared to be certain climatic conditions that
increased the likelihood of fires. According to the
Junta there is Factor 30 to take into account:
temperature more than 30%, humidity less than 30 %
and winds over 30kph. If these three conditions are
present at the same time then……watch out. But these
figures just describe the potential conditions that
could contribute to fires starting. What is it that
actually starts them?
Well,
there is the weekend cortijero that decides to use a
lighter rather than a hoe to clean the land. Its
quick and cheap and less labour intensive. Once done
the land is ready to be worked and additionally has a
nice amount of burnt ash mixed into the soil too.
Then there is the illegal burning (without
permission) of agricultural waste that gets out of
hand. (The Bodijar fire in Granada 2 years ago is a
sad example of this).
Whatever the reasons, a planned response and effective defence of the forests are clearly in need. This is no emotional plea for a greener Spain. Forests oxygenate the planet. They attract and hold water. They combat soil erosion and fight the desertification of Spain. They play important role in protecting the bio-diversity of life. Finally, with important countries like Russia at last backing the Kyoto targets, Spain has less an excuse to fall behind with its obligations in reducing contaminating emissions. Some of the required methods for making such reductions are politically sensitive and therefore have become a somewhat sticky issue. One solution is too invest in the repopulation of forests with indigenous species. One hectare of forest consumes 20 tonnes of CO2 in one year.
With such global importance to the environment, the worrying spread of forest fires is an issue that politically as well as socially needs greater attention. Education seems one answer, but cannot address the greed and laziness of land misuse. Perhaps the Junta, after the Riotinto blaze, may investigate in a little more depth what measures can be adopted to stop such fires from happening in the first place. An investigation well overdue.
© Paul Read