The first vice president and counselor of the Presidency, Health, and Emergencies, Antonio Sanz, communicated this Wednesday in the Plenary of the Parliament the launch of an Interdepartmental Commission for the Mitigation and Prevention of Fire Risk, conceived to face the new reality of "fires of extraordinary complexity." He called on all groups in the autonomous arch to support and unite against the fire, lamenting that the left-wing opposition has tried to "gain political advantage" from the tragedy, incurring, in his opinion, in "lying" and throwing "filth."
Sanz intervened in the first plenary session of the new political course to report on the wildfires recorded in Andalusia during the summer. He warned that "wildfires have changed, leading to greater virulence" and defended that the risk must be addressed from "a transversal, preventive, territorial, and multisectoral perspective," "overcoming a vision exclusively linked to the management of forests and the extinction of fires," in light of what happened in Los Gallardos (Almería) and Niebla (Huelva).
The future Commission is configured as a collegiate body for internal coordination of the autonomous Administration "intended to integrate and coordinate the policies, programs, actions, and resources" of the different councils that, "directly or indirectly, affect the prevention and reduction of the risk of wildfires."
The first vice president emphasized that the essential goal will be "to promote, coordinate, and evaluate a transversal policy of the Junta de Andalucía aimed at permanently and structurally reducing the risk of wildfires, through coordinated action on the causes, the propagation factors, the vulnerable elements, and the consequences of these fires."
In this line, he stressed that the fight against fire cannot be limited to the summer period and reiterated that "prevention is worked on during the twelve months of the year." He specified that Andalusia currently allocates 271 million euros from its accounts to fires, with a greater allocation for prevention than for extinction, and detailed some of the main measures implemented to reduce the risk.
Among those actions, he mentioned the 28 million euros directed to preventive forestry treatments and the more than 24 million euros committed in 2024 and 2025 to modernize more than 2,000 kilometers of forest roads.
The Niebla fire, a "seven-headed monster"
During his presentation, Antonio Sanz highlighted "the extraordinary complexity" of the Niebla fire, which he described as "a true seven-headed monster," emphasizing both the damaged area and "what we have prevented from burning." He indicated that the Niebla fire has been "the most difficult in our history" and stressed that its potential reach could have been much greater.
According to what he recounted, "it could have been four times greater," with effects that would have affected other areas. He added that the action of the Junta de Andalucía "now involves restoring the affected lands, preventing erosion processes, and minimizing the damage that rains may cause on the affected forest area."
The first vice president also advocated for the strengthening of the Infoca device, which currently has almost 5,000 professionals. He emphasized "the progress in the stability and professionalization of the device" thanks to the extension of the hiring of operational personnel to twelve months and the call, last April, for 234 permanent positions. These human resources are joined by 43 aircraft and 108 fire trucks, with 84% of the fleet renewed, in addition to 165.4 million euros allocated since 2020 to infrastructure.
Interventions from parliamentary groups
In the turn of the groups, the PSOE-A deputy Rodrigo Sánchez Haro pointed out that this summer Andalucía has suffered the largest fires in its history, with a toll of 15 fatalities. "Mr. Sanz, not a single word to the victims, not one," he reproached him, recalling that "behind the burned hectares, the photos of the helicopters, and the official propaganda reports, there are 15 lives and 15 shattered families."
He reiterated the request for a parliamentary investigation commission on forest fires and denounced the "management incapacity of the political direction of emergencies in Andalucía," citing systems like Est-Alert.
On behalf of the PP-A, the deputy Juan Antonio Márquez has criticized the "twisted use" that, according to him, the left makes of the difficulties, particularly targeting the "catastrophist exaggeration" of the PSOE-A. "The veiled confirmations that you have made questioning the work of those responsible for the fires are very serious. If you believe that there was a lack of coordination; that things were done poorly or that there was even negligence, what you need to do is go to court," he has conveyed to the socialist parliamentarian.
The deputy spokesperson of Vox, Rodrigo Alonso, has attributed the proliferation of the fires to the fact that "the necessary prevention work has not been carried out" such as the removal of accumulated dry vegetation. He has defended that "the mountains require prevention and to prevent, they must be cleaned, cared for, and maintained" and that those who "know the most" are the people from the rural environment. Therefore, he has demanded a prevention plan that returns "largely the mountain and the countryside to the people who truly know how to take care of it."
The deputy spokesperson of Adelante Andalucía, Mari Carmen García, has denounced "the dismantling" and the "lack" of resources in Infoca. She has reproached Sanz that "he beats his chest saying how important they are, but when they have demands and say they need strong measures to face the fire, you look the other way and do not attend." In her opinion, what happened with the fires "is not a sum of bad luck, but the result of the sum of irresponsibilities on the part of this government, to which, to make matters worse, is added the denialist discourse full of lies" from Vox.
The deputy spokesperson of Por Andalucía, Rafael Sánchez Rulfo, has urged the counselor to abandon the "advertorial politics" with the "vest" in the fires and to commit to the "defense of the public" regarding Infoca and emergency services. He has also demanded that "what is a scientific evidence be assumed and that climate change has arrived and is here to stay," criticizing that from Vox, a partner of PP-A in the Junta, its effects are denied. He has also advocated for a commission of inquiry in Parliament on forest fires and for a public defense policy of the mountains.
After listening to the groups, Sanz has pointed out that "logically everyone can express themselves as they wish and use a catastrophe as they see fit, but what cannot be done is to lie and, above all, to sow doubts," and he has replied to the leftist formations that "there is no worker from Infoca who is not personnel of the administration of the Junta," rejecting the accusations of "privatization."
"We have already had enough catastrophe with the victims for them to come here to throw lies like garbage for political gain," the first vice president concluded in reference to the leftist parties.