Virginia Barcones visits the BRIF of Lubia on the occasion of the forest fire campaign

• Underlines the importance of joining forces in the fight against fire as the best means to safeguard the biodiversity of the mountains of Castilla y León and the wealth of the peoples • Recalls that in 2022 more than 300,000 hectares were burned in Spain and that the fire of the Sierra de la Culebra has been the largest recorded in our country • The base of Lubia is composed of 60 people and has air support to move where necessary

July 6, 2023.- The delegate of the Government in Castilla y León, Virginia Barcones, visited today the BRIF of Lubia on the occasion of the forest fire campaign to collaborate with the autonomous communities in the work of extinguishment. During his visit, he recalled that climate change is a reality that causes more and more virulent fires, so it is increasingly important to join forces in this fight.

The government delegate has visited the base that the Forest Fire Reinforcement Brigades (BRIF) has in Lubia. A base in which more than 60 personnel supported by air resources work, whose task is to support the means of extinction of the autonomous communities, given that it is the autonomies that have the competences in matters against forest fires. In 2022, 72 interventions were carried out from Lubia in 32 forest fires, which involved more than 460 hours of flight of helicopters.

Specifically, the Lubia BRIF is composed of six squads of eight people (six forest firefighters + one sliding firefighter + one foreman), that is, 48 people. To these must be added two sliding foremen; three fire technicians accompanying each two squads (one Brigade); a chief coordinator of technicians; a physical preparer; two base emisorists; a cleaning cook for camp of technicians and pilots; two base technicians as well as two pilots and a mechanic.

Virginia Barcones has said that climate change is no longer a hypothesis but a reality whose effects are already being suffered. In this regard, he has pointed out that in terms of fires it provokes fires that are increasingly virulent and voracious. Spain is no stranger to this reality, where last year more than 300,000 hectares were burned. “More surface was burned last year than in the 2018-2021 period as a whole,” he said.

In this regard, he recalled that the largest fire of all recorded in Spain took place last year in Zamora, where 50,000 hectares were burned in the Sierra de la Culebra and its surroundings. “You must believe me when I tell you that, as a government delegate in Castilla y León, my soul falls to my feet when I see how it turned out,” she said.

The Government delegate, who has indicated that the Executive allocated 46% of the budget for reinforcement against forest fires, has asserted that behind a forest fire there is more than the loss of biodiversity of a certain area. A fire causes evacuations of populations, damage to property, injuries and, in the worst case, deaths: “It is a social stigma for the people who suffer as a result of their environment,” he said. A stigma that also lasts for years since the wound that a fire causes in the mountain can take years to heal.

In this regard, he has highlighted the importance of the BRIF as an element of support for the means of extinction of the autonomous communities. Brigades that operate throughout the territory and are prepared to work in the most demanding conditions. “Yours is a hard and commendable job. Face to face with the fire, playing the guy. Fighting against a voracious and insatiable enemy that only they know and can limit,” he said, referring to all those teams that are in the front line of fighting a forest fire.

For Virginia Barcones it is that effort to protect the mountains and private property, so the forest fire fighting systems are among the best valued by the Castilians and Leoneses, forest firefighters of which “our peoples are proud”.

The government delegate recalled that fighting the fire is “everyone’s task”. For this reason, he has expressed that in the fight against forest fires, in the defense of the mountains and villages of Castilla y León “there can be no flags or parties”. In this regard, he has extended the Government’s hand to the autonomous communities, remembering that they are the ones who have the competence in matters of fires, so he has encouraged them to “improve their fighting systems, both in prevention and in extinction”.

In the fight against the scourge caused by the fires in Spain, the delegate also wanted to thank other agencies for their work. In this regard, he recalled the work carried out by the Military Emergency Unit, which is also on the “front line when they are needed”. Likewise, the work carried out by the air media, Civil Protection, the Civil Guard through the services of the DGT or Seprona, and other members of the State Security Forces and Corps. “I cannot forget the health services, as well as the many members of our society who anonymously contribute their bit,” he said.

FOREST FIRE REINFORCEMENT BRIGADES

The company Tragsa is in charge of putting in place the service of operation of the forest fire extinguishing and prevention device in order to cover the human and material means necessary to carry out various extinguishing and prevention actions on the territory in coordination with the autonomous communities.

The objective is the execution of the service for the operation of the forest fire extinguishing and prevention device in support of the autonomous communities in the extinguishment, prevention and analysis of forest fires composed of personnel specialized in: the planning of preventive actions, the management and behavior of the fire and in the strategic analysis;

Specifically, the global service can be divided, in turn, into other services: Service of support to the autonomous communities for the extinguishment of forest fires carried out by the Forest Fire Reinforcement Brigades (BRIF) which, with an integral character, and very attached to the territory, will address extinguishment and/or prevention tasks.

There are currently 10 BRIF bases that are located in areas of high fire risk and/or high forest wealth and that perform the three services indicated above in an integral way. Since the first two Forest Fire Reinforcement Brigades (BRIFs) were put into operation in June 1992, the locations of which were: Pata del Caballero (Huelva) and Prado de los Esquiladores (Cuenca), the magnificent result of these units motivated their expansion until forming the current map of locations, progressively adding the BRIF of Pinofranqueado (Cáceres) and Tabuyo del Monte (León). In 1994 a fifth unit was created in Daroca (Zaragoza). Subsequently, the Brigades of Laza (Orense), Tineo (Asturias), Puerto del Pico (Ávila), La Iglesuela (Toledo), Puntagorda (La Palma) and finally Lubia (Soria) were created in 2007. In 2004 the BRIF of Pata del Caballero moved to La Almoraima (Cádiz) and in 2005 it was eliminated reaching the ten current units in this way.

Since 2009, these units have been working practically throughout the year, carrying out complementary work for the extinguishment of forest fires in the periods of lower risk, such as forest treatment, controlled burning, dissemination and public awareness.