A new fire in the Sierra Oeste of Madrid forces the confinement of Aldea del Fresno and Villamantilla and activates level 2 of the INFOMA.

The INFOMA protocol of the Community of Madrid does not establish rigid “deadlines” in hours or days for each phase of a level 2 forest fire, because the management adapts in real time to the evolution of the fire. It does define procedures (formal decisions) and structures that must be activated almost immediately when Operational Situation 2 is declared, which is the maximum emergency while the direction remains in the hands of the autonomous community (Demócrata, Basic Directive 2026).

1. What level 2 means in INFOMA

• It refers to Operational Situation 2 of the Special Civil Protection Plan for Emergency due to Forest Fires (INFOMA) of the Community of Madrid, approved by autonomous decree and cited, for example, in the regulations of the El Pardo Forest (BOE-A-2025-19170).
• It is activated when own or already assigned resources may be insufficient and it is necessary to resort to means from other administrations, or when the fire clearly threatens the population, homes, or essential infrastructures (Demócrata).
• Recent examples: the Lozoyuela fire, where Madrid raised INFOMA to level 2 due to confinements and closures of the A‑1 (Demócrata), or the Almorox/Villa del Prado fire (Demócrata).

2. Main procedures when declaring level 2

The declaration is made by the direction of the autonomous plan (competent Ministry and ASEM112). The key steps are:

• Formal declaration of Operational Situation 2 of INFOMA, which:
  • Activates the structure provided in the plan “at full capacity” (plan direction, advisory committee, operational centers) (Demócrata).
  • Opens the door to requesting means from other administrations, including the UME, although their intervention is not automatic.
• Constitution and reinforcement of command bodies:
  • Advanced Command Post (PMA) in the fire zone.
  • Operational Coordination Center (CECOP) and, if applicable, Integrated Operational Coordination Center (CECOPI) if state resources intervene intensively.
• Extraordinary mobilization of resources:
  • Increase of forest firefighters, urban firefighters, forest agents, civil protection, Civil Guard, local police, and health services (Demócrata).
  • Reinforcement of aerial and ground means and possible request for state means (MITECO helicopters, UME, etc.).
• Population protection measures, agreed and executed from the moment of declaration:
  • Evacuations and confinements (as in Villa del Prado or Lozoyuela), communicated through official networks and, when necessary, via the ES‑Alert system on mobiles (Demócrata).
  • Road closures or access restrictions (e.g., closure of N‑403 in Almorox, according to Emergencies 112 Madrid Demócrata).
  • Specific protection of hospitals, nursing homes, critical infrastructures, stations, etc.
• Information and institutional coordination:
  • Permanent communication with municipalities and the Government Delegation.
  • Issuance of warnings to the population and updating data on evacuations, reception points, road closures, and fire evolution (Demócrata).

3. Deadlines: how they are managed in practice

INFOMA and the national Basic Directive are based on the principle of immediacy, not fixed schedules:

• The activation of level 2 is decided within minutes when technicians see that the fire threatens people or exceeds ordinary response capacity. There is no minimum duration: it can be declared, maintained, lowered to 1/0, or proposed to be raised to 3 depending on fire evolution.
• Level reviews are continuous; in practice, formal assessments occur at least every few hours in monitoring committees, but there is no fixed interval in the regulation.
• Measures regarding the population (evacuate, confine, reopen roads, authorize return) are taken and modified without set deadlines, depending on wind, smoke, fire reproductions, and resource capacity, as seen in the Sierra Oeste of Madrid (Demócrata).

4. What happens after level 2

• If the fire overflows or affects several communities, the Community of Madrid itself can request the Government to declare a national interest emergency (level 3), transferring superior direction to the Ministry of the Interior, as happened in July 2026 (Demócrata).
• When the fire is controlled and the risk to the population decreases, the operational situation is progressively lowered to 1 and 0, maintaining finishing and surveillance tasks.
• Procedures for aid and reconstruction (specific plans for municipalities, agricultural operations, housing, etc.) are articulated afterwards through agreements and specific calls, different from the immediate INFOMA protocol (Demócrata).

In summary, INFOMA level 2 sets who commands, which bodies are activated, and what types of decisions can be made, but leaves deadlines open to react with maximum flexibility to the fire’s dynamics.

The Community of Madrid has a central role in managing forest emergencies, supported by its own regulatory framework: the Law 5/2023, on the Creation of the Integrated Civil Protection and Emergency System of the Community of Madrid, the Special Civil Protection Plan for Emergency due to Forest Fires (INFOMA), the Consolidated Text of the Law on Prevention, Extinction of Fires and Rescue Services (Legislative Decree 1/2006), Law 25/1997 on the 112 service, and the Statute of the Security and Emergency Agency Madrid 112 (Decree 252/2023).

General framework and planning

Law 5/2023 creates the Integrated Civil Protection and Emergency System of the Community of Madrid, which organizes action against risks, including forest fires, in five major types of actions: anticipation, prevention, planning, response, and recovery. This law assigns to the Community the preparation of the Civil Protection Strategy, the autonomous territorial plans, and the special plans against specific risks. Within this framework is the INFOMA, approved by Decree 59/2017, as a specific special plan against forest fires, which:

• Defines the high-risk zones (ZAR) for fire in the region.
• Establishes the levels or operational situations and who directs the emergency in each case.
• Regulates the integration of autonomous, state, and local means in the device.

Prevention and forest management

By virtue of its Statute of Autonomy and Law 5/2023, Madrid exercises competencies in forests, environment, and nature protection, which materialize in fire prevention. Legislative Decree 1/2006 establishes that the Community:

• Provides and coordinates the fire prevention and extinction service in its territory, especially in municipalities without their own means or that have entrusted the service to the Community.
• Inspects compliance with prevention regulations and promotes the installation and maintenance of fire services.
• Organizes the training of personnel in prevention and extinction services.

Additionally, plans like Madrid Forestal and notes from the Community itself reflect specific preventive functions: silvicultural treatments, creation and maintenance of firebreaks, control of agricultural machinery use and beekeeping smokers, forest adaptation, and modification of forest regulations to strengthen obligations of owners and managers.

Surveillance and early detection

During high-risk campaigns (INFOMA), the Community deploys its own permanent surveillance device. According to official communications, this includes:

• A network of watchtowers (around 33–34) staffed by specialized personnel who detect smoke columns and immediately communicate with the Firefighters Operational Coordination Center.
• Mobile night patrols that ensure 24-hour continuous surveillance.
• Use of technological means (cameras, communications, satellites) integrated into the system coordinated by the Security and Emergency Agency Madrid 112 (ASEM112).

Extinction and operational direction

The Community of Madrid assumes the ordinary direction and coordination of the response to forest fires in its territory as long as a national interest emergency is not declared. Its basic means are:

• The Firefighters Corps of the Community of Madrid and the Forest Brigades and Firefighters, regulated by Legislative Decree 1/2006.
• The Forest Agents Corps, with functions of surveillance, cause investigation, risk activity control, and operational support.
• Civil Protection volunteers and the Immediate Logistic Response Team (ERIVE), integrated into INFOMA.

INFOMA establishes different emergency levels and, in each, which Community authority (ASEM112 direction, competent ministry, etc.) exercises the direction of extinction and coordination of autonomous and municipal means. When the fire exceeds autonomous capacity and a national interest emergency is declared, direction passes to the State, but the Community maintains its operational means integrated under unified command.

Civil protection, 112, and inter-administrative coordination

Law 25/1997 assigns the Community the exclusive provision of the 112 service in its territorial scope, including call reception, evaluation, and transmission of requirements to competent services. The Statute of the Security and Emergency Agency Madrid 112 specifies that ASEM112:

• Directs and coordinates the autonomous Integrated Civil Protection and Emergency System.
• Plans, coordinates, and manages territorial and special plans, including INFOMA.
• Assumes the operational coordination of all resources (firefighters, forest agents, health, volunteers, etc.) and relations with other administrations.

The Community also approves and updates the regulatory framework and plans, reminds and demands municipalities their preventive and planning duties (municipal plans against forest fires, fire use restrictions, population information), and channels their own requests for state support (UME, BRIF, aerial means) through the National Civil Protection System when the fire’s magnitude requires it.

In summary, the Community of Madrid concentrates strategic planning, ordinary operational direction, surveillance, forest prevention, management of extinction means, and civil protection coordination against forest fires, in close collaboration with the State and municipalities.

In recent months, several autonomous communities have activated special plans, alert situations, or reinforced devices against forest fires, very similar to the extraordinary devices seen in other territories this summer. Based on official bulletins and autonomous and state press releases, a broad group of communities can be identified that have moved to different activation levels of their plans.

Main communities that have recently activated special devices or levels

• Canary Islands – Has activated the Special Civil Protection and Emergency Attention Plan for Forest Fires (INFOCA Canarias).
  • On May 31, 2026, a pre-alert was declared due to forest fire risk in La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, Tenerife, and Gran Canaria, effective at least until September 30, as a high danger period (Government of Canary Islands note).
  • In August, an alert phase ended, maintaining the background pre-alert (update of 08/09/2026).
• Basque Country – The Department of Security declared Situation 1 of the Emergency Phase of the Forest Fire Emergency Plan of Euskadi.
  • The activation, on June 23, 2026, responds to an episode of extreme heat and high fire risk, and involves coordinating resources of the Basque Emergency Attention System and the provincial councils (Basque Government).
• Community of Madrid – Maintains active the Special Civil Protection Plan for Emergencies due to Forest Fires (INFOMA 2026).
  • The high-risk period has been framed between June 15 and September 30, with specific campaigns such as monitoring the use of harvesters and reinforcement of forest agents (note on harvester monitoring).
  • Additionally, the Community has convened the INFOMA Advisory Committee and increased budget and means as part of the special summer device.
• Galicia – Has updated and reinforced Pladiga 2026 (Plan for prevention and defense against forest fires of Galicia).
  • The Xunta has presented the plan with a record investment and an expanded device, including more brigades, aerial means, and the use of technologies such as drones and a citizen alert app (Pladiga 2026 presentation).
  • Coordination and presence of means have also been reinforced in especially sensitive provinces such as Ourense and A Coruña (Ourense, A Coruña).
• Balearic Islands – The Balearic Government has highlighted that it is in a high forest fire danger period from May 1 to October 15.
  • During these months, the anti-fire operation reaches its maximum deployment, with incorporation of new means such as high-tech drones to the device (Balearic operation presentation).
• Region of Murcia – Has activated emergency levels of its autonomous plan.
  • In a forest fire in Murcia, level 2 of the INFOMUR Plan was declared, implying a reinforced device and the request for intervention of the UME and state aerial means, in addition to mobilization of forest brigades and regional emergency services.
• Andalusia – Through the INFOCA Plan, it has gone through different operational situations in serious fires such as those in Los Gallardos (Almería) and Niebla (Huelva).
  • In Los Gallardos, the fire reached a situation of maximum severity and was later lowered to Operational Situation 1 once stabilized, maintaining a broad INFOCA device and UME support.
  • In Niebla, an extraordinary device has also been maintained for days, with dozens of aerial means and hundreds of personnel.
• Aragon – The autonomous plan INFOAR has declared level 2 and elevated operational situations in large fires such as those in Orés, Cinco Villas, or Las Peñas de Riglos (Huesca), with devices described as historic, integrating autonomous, state, and other community means.
• Extremadura – The INFOEX Plan maintains activity year-round and has reached at least level 1 danger in fires such as Herrera del Duque (Badajoz), deploying numerous aerial and ground means.

In addition, other territories mentioned in official bulletins and government agreements — such as Navarra, Castilla y León, Valencian Community, or Castilla-La Mancha — have recently approved or activated their specific fire plans or declared alert periods due to meteorological risk. The general panorama is a very broad and staggered activation of autonomous devices, with different levels (pre-emergency, situation 1, 2, etc.) depending on the severity of each episode and risk to the population.