This time last year there were big wild fires that were to the south of us and the smoke was so dense that the sun turned red and it looked like an artificial red dot stuck in the sky.
The area where the fire that happened just outside San Cibrao at the end of last year still smells smokey when walking along the lane.
We’re very much in the wild fire zone here in north Spain. I think nearly 80% of the land burned by wildfires in the last 10 years is the north coast in total – and this is part of what made the recent fires in Madrid and Alicante so serious – we ‘expect’ fires here – central Spain is not known as a wildfire hotspot (relatively – everywhere is prone to fires).
This map shows the total amount of land which burned due to forest fires/wild fires. We were very aware of this when we moved here – and buying a house at a distance from eucalyptus was at the top of our priority list. We avoided all the areas which are big red splodges!
If you look closely at the map, North East from Sevilla, you will see that Extremadura in the area we were in was also a hotspot!
There are big discussions about the role of the eucalyptus in this. A Fire Chief said that covering land with eucalyptus was the same as covering it in napalm. And while there are nowhere near the number of eucalyptus further south – they are everywhere in Spain.
Which I think everyone knows but little has been done but I think things will change. While other areas aren’t as densely planted with eucalyptus as here, they are throughout Spain.. Particularly with fires now happening outside of the ‘normal’ areas.
The trees grow so quickly that even in areas which have been burned by fire – the trees are back and several meters tall within 5 or so years – ready to burn again!
There are trials being done here for replacing eucalyptus with other cash crops- Avacados are one, which is being trialled in Ribadeo. The eucalyptus which were planted around Villagarcia were cut down a couple of years before we left.
Of course there are two sides to every story and the wood industry says that eucalyptus plantations are good because they are a crop and raise money – therefore people have a vested interest in insuring they don’t burn before they can be harvested. I think that’s probably true in some places, but so much of the land is abandoned in rural areas or the families have moved away and no longer have any connection to the area, the trees and land are left unmanaged (unlike other countries, the vast majority of rural land including woodland is privately owned – millions of people own small bits of rural land and woodland).
But given that eucalyptus are a ‘new’ thing – less than 100 years old – I don’t think anyone is too wedded to them as being part of the culture/heritage, so I am sure that if a less flammable tree could be found which also generated money, most people wouldn’t really care what was on the land.
I guess time will tell…