Asaja Córdoba has highlighted this Tuesday the task carried out by farmers, ranchers, and those responsible for forestry and hunting operations as "allies in the fight against fires," emphasizing the need for "joint collaboration with administrations," given the "high risk of fire that will be present all summer" due to "the large amount of vegetation existing in the countryside, a consequence of the high rainfall recorded this year."
The agricultural organization has explained that "the pastures and tree and shrub vegetation are presented with great size and in high densities, with the significant risk of fire associated with them. It cannot be forgotten that this is combustible material, which, when it dries, poses a high risk of fire."
Faced with this situation, it has stressed that "livestock and hunting operations where there is a domestic livestock herd or large game species are grazed, with reduced pastures, and therefore, with a lower risk of fire."
In this regard, the president of Asaja Córdoba, Fernando Adell, has recalled that "the extremely important work that professionals in the agricultural, livestock, hunting, and forestry sectors carry out throughout the year to contribute to preventing major fires when the danger season arrives cannot be forgotten."
With the arrival of summer, "the vegetation dries out, and tree and shrub species are presented with minimal moisture levels, which predisposes them to burn with greater virulence," although traditional grazing in many areas of the province means that "grazed forests and pastures" act as an effective natural firebreak, by minimizing the load of plant fuel.
Likewise, it is highlighted that "farmers carry out important tasks that contribute to the same, with tilling, cleaning olive groves, or creating perimeter firebreaks in stubble fields after harvests," while the owners of forestry and hunting operations "contribute to fire prevention with the work carried out throughout the year, cleaning forests, removing plant matter through tasks such as clearing, felling trees to thin stands, pruning, etc."
For this reason, Asaja has called on the competent administrations in the road network —the Ministry of Development, the Junta de Andalucía, and the Provincial Council of Córdoba— to intensify the maintenance and cleaning of ditches and verges, since, in a year like the current one, "the height and thickness of the grass in the roadside ditches increase the danger of forest fires".
Similarly, the organization has asked the Delegation of Environment of the Junta de Andalucía to act in public and consorted mountains, as they are "in a state of abandonment, with the consequent risk of fire".