Statement by the President of the Government of Spain following his visit to the area affected by the fire in Ávila

SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN, PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

Thank you very much, president, and a very big thank you to the mayor as well.

And thanks again to the media. I'm going to start as I always do, by thanking the media for their work and their efforts, because a very important part of the fight against fires - and indeed any civil protection emergency - is ensuring that our citizens receive accurate information that guarantees their safety and peace of mind. And that's what the media do. So, thank you once again to the journalists here with us today, who are reporting the facts, backed up by data, and thereby combating hoaxes and misinformation - which, unfortunately, also arise in emergencies of this kind, adding to the public's anxiety and concern - and which, sadly, we are once again seeing on social media, with all manner of hoaxes - such as those concerning solar power and mining - essentially suggesting that these fires are being started for spurious reasons. And nothing could be further from the truth. What we have, in fact, is a National Civil Protection System that responds efficiently, among other reasons, because we have some outstanding professionals and, as the mayor and the president of the Regional Government of Castilla y León have rightly pointed out, coordination and cooperation between the various institutions which, I believe, has been thoroughly tested - unfortunately - throughout the many civil protection emergencies we have been facing for many years now. Of course, President Mañueco and I have, unfortunately, had to deal with many civil protection emergencies over the years and even before that; indeed, the president of the Ávila Provincial Council was just telling us that over the last six years it has not only been fires, but also snowfalls and storms. In short, all kinds of civil protection emergencies that the province of Ávila, like many other parts of our country, has been experiencing as a result of the climate emergency affecting the Iberian Peninsula in a particularly acute manner.

So, first of all, thank you to the media. I will never tire of saying this to the public: keep yourselves informed through official channels and through reputable media outlets, for your own safety and peace of mind, and especially at a time like this, when we are keeping a close watch, thanks to the staff of the National Civil Protection System, working to consolidate certain areas where it appears the fires may already have been brought under control and extinguished. I would urge you once again to place your trust in public institutions, in the National Civil Protection System, because, as has been said before, our main concern and priority is always to save lives, to safeguard people's lives, to protect communities and, of course, in this instance, to tackle and fight the fires.

Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude, as all those in positions of responsibility do - the mayor and the president of the Regional Government of Andalusia
have already done so here - to the public servants, to all the personnel and to all the institutions that form part of the National Civil Protection System. And I believe that this gratitude must also be extended to a new regional government. As you are aware, we have this unified system, this unified command structure, which yesterday was also joined by the Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha, in particular as a result of the situation in the province of Toledo, and I would, of course, like to thank all the personnel who are making themselves available through institutional cooperation, and also, in the case of Ávila, to thank the Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha for deploying personnel from Extremadura, Galicia and, of course, Asturias as well. And I also had the opportunity to greet the troops deployed from our neighbouring country, Portugal. We would also like to thank them, because there have been other occasions when Portugal has also suffered exceptionally severe fires and we have experienced that sense of brotherhood and solidarity between our two countries.

There are some difficult hours ahead. It is true that what we have been told here at this CECOD is that tonight has been very positive in terms of the fire's progress, bringing it under control and the efforts to tackle it. Let's see how today unfolds. But in any case, I would like - as President Mañueco has done previously - to once again urge the public, all residents, to please take every possible precaution, as well as to exercise caution, and to keep themselves informed either through their mayors or, as I said earlier, through official channels or reputable media outlets.

And finally, as I always do, I believe that the scale of the disaster we are experiencing - sadly, yet another year in our country - is very, very difficult
to come to terms with. We're talking about the fact that, whilst yesterday we quoted a figure of 130,000 hectares affected by wildfires so far this year, today we've already exceeded 150,000 in less than 24 hours - from 130,000 to 150,000 hectares - with nearly a dozen major fires, bringing the total to 32 major fires so far this year. If my figures are correct, minister, it seems to me that this represents a six-fold increase in the number of hectares affected compared with last year, which was already a particularly severe year in terms of the areas affected by major fires.

And this leads me to a point everyone should reflect on. And when I say everyone, I mean all political, institutional, civil and social actors.
And this is a requirement, a duty, not only for safety reasons, but also, I would say, for moral reasons - earlier, the president of the Ávila Provincial Council said that it is no longer just a matter of economic damage, but also of emotional distress for many residents who are seeing their surroundings reduced to ashes as a result of these fires - well, well, we must translate that duty into action by forging a grand State pact to tackle the climate emergency. Fires have always existed, but the scale of these fires, the way they behave, and these extremely adverse and extreme weather conditions - where we go from a storm to a major fire or heavy snowfall in a very short space of time - confirm what science has been telling us for a very long time. The fact is that we must not only provide a response that is appropriate and proportionate to the scale of these climate emergencies, but we must also draw on scientific data and scientific knowledge to formulate the best public policies for the benefit of our fellow citizens and our neighbours. And that is something all public authorities at every level must do, by providing financial resources and, as I said earlier, by cooperating as we are doing in the response.

That is why we need prevention, response and reconstruction. I was discussing this earlier with President Mañueco, as well as with the mayor and the president of the Ávila Provincial Council. It is clear that summer is not yet over and that, unfortunately, we will see further fires - we are also closely monitoring the situation regarding the fire in Castellón - but at the next Council of Ministers meeting on Tuesday we will, of course, approve the Royal Decree-law to designate the areas affected by the fires - which are, unfortunately, ravaging the province of Ávila in this instance - as areas seriously affected by civil protection emergencies.

There are therefore still hours of work left to do. I would like to thank the media for their work and, of course, to express my heartfelt gratitude, on behalf of the Government of Spain, to the emergency services, civil servants and public officials, and for the institutional cooperation we have always provided to all the regions affected by these climate-related emergencies.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)

Original speech in Spanish

Non official translation