Fire in Benidorm: what happened in Armanello and what was the outcome

In the Valencian Community, the prevention of forest fires near urban centers is structured by combining forestry legislation and land use and urban planning regulations. The key regulations are the Forestry Law of the Valencian Community and its regulations, along with the consolidated text of land use planning, which includes a specific annex on fire prevention. However, in the consulted excerpts of the regulations, the exact meters of protection strips or the full content of these annexes do not appear, so these requirements cannot be numerically specified. Nevertheless, the general framework of obligations for municipalities, owners, and holders of developments in the urban-forest interface can be described.

Main regional regulatory framework

The basic regime is supported by:

• Law 3/1993, of December 9, Forestry of the Valencian Community, partially amended, which defines what constitutes forest land and sets the framework for forest fire prevention. Text accessible at Law 3/1993.
• Its regulatory development through Decree 91/2023, of June 22, of the Consell, which approves the Regulation of Law 3/1993: Forestry Regulation 2023.
• Legislative Decree 1/2021, of June 18, which approves the consolidated text of the Law on land use planning, urbanism, and landscape, with an Annex XI: Forest Fire Prevention, as seen in the text itself: consolidated text 1/2021 and its reference in the BOE [link].
• The previous Law 5/2014, on Land Use Planning, Urbanism, and Landscape, now consolidated: Law 5/2014.

Additionally, the Forestry Law has been amended by Law 13/2018 (Law 13/2018 in BOE and Law 13/2018 in DOGV) and by Decree-Law 1/2023, which creates the municipal strategic fund for fire prevention and forest management (Decree-Law 1/2023 and its ratification in Resolution 612/X). More general laws also have an impact, such as Law 7/2021 and various fiscal and administrative measures (Law 7/2014, Law 10/2015, Law 27/2018, Law 9/2019, Law 3/2020, Law 21/2017, Law 13/2016, Decree-Law 6/2021), as well as sectoral regulations such as those on inclusive social services (Law 3/2019).

Areas close to urban and developable land

In the Forestry Law, according to the available excerpt, it is clarified that lands classified as urban or developable are not considered forest land or forest terrain. However, the 2023 Regulation introduces a key rule: in its first additional provision, it establishes that in developable lands, until urbanization is completed and they have urban facilities and services, forestry regulations on fires apply. This means that while a development is under construction, it must comply with forestry prevention obligations.

The consolidated text of land use planning (Legislative Decree 1/2021) includes an Annex XI “Forest Fire Prevention”, which, due to its systematic location, should contain the criteria that urban planning must respect regarding distances, configuration of urban edges, integration into green infrastructure, and risk prevention. However, in the consulted extracts, its content is not reproduced, so the specific numerical values of strip widths, safety radii, or design parameters are not available.

Obligations of municipalities and owners

From the regulatory framework, it generally follows that:

• Municipalities must exercise their planning and urban discipline powers “guaranteeing risk prevention” and coordinating with forestry policy (initial articles of the consolidated text 1/2021). It is foreseeable that general plans must incorporate the determinations of Annex XI on forest fire prevention in the urban-forest interface.
• The municipal strategic fund for fire prevention and forest management, created by Decree-Law 1/2023, strengthens the role of municipalities in carrying out prevention actions, also in areas close to urban centers.
• Holders of developable lands adjacent to forest land, while urbanization is not completed, are subject to forestry regulations for fire purposes (additional provision of Decree 91/2023). This implies obligations for vegetation management and avoiding risky uses, although specific details do not appear in the available excerpts.
• Owners of homes and plots within consolidated urban or developable land are subject to municipal ordinances and urban planning determinations derived from Annex XI, but specific parameters for clearing, pruning, or removal of debris for the strip immediately adjacent to buildings are not recorded in the consulted sources.

Prevention plans and reference state regulations

At the state level, the Law 43/2003, on Forests (and its amendment by Law 10/2006) establishes the basic framework for defense plans against fires, although the specification in the Valencian Community is carried out through the aforementioned regional regulations. The most recent state references on civil protection and fires (for example, the state emergency planning, the National Civil Protection Strategy, and previous regulations on forest fires) are complementary but do not directly set the specific strips in Valencian land (State Emergency Plan for Fires, Basic Directive 2013, partially replaced by the Basic Civil Protection Standard 2023, and the National Civil Protection Strategy).

In summary, Valencian legislation does establish a specific framework for the urban-forest interface (through the 2023 Forestry Regulation and Annex XI of the consolidated land use planning text), but the sources handled do not contain the numerical details of strip widths, nor the precise content of clearing, pruning, or construction material obligations in these areas. For practical application, it is essential to consult directly the full articles of the Regulation of Law 3/1993, Annex XI of the Legislative Decree 1/2021, and the municipal ordinances of each municipality.

The Provincial Firefighters Consortium of Alicante is the supramunicipal entity responsible for the comprehensive management of the prevention, fire extinction, and rescue service in the province. Its competencies cover both the operational response to emergencies (fires, rescues, civil protection incidents) and the organization and coordination of the service among the Provincial Council, Generalitat, and municipalities. All this is articulated through its Statutes, adapted in 2020, and Law 7/2011 of the Generalitat on Prevention, Fire Extinction, and Rescue Services.

Basic competencies in emergency management

According to the corporate and statutory information of the Consortium itself, its core competency is prevention, fire extinction, and rescue of people and property in any type of civil protection incident or emergency within its territorial scope.

Operational intervention areas

• Urban and industrial fires: action in homes, public buildings, industrial warehouses, hospitals, or critical facilities (for example, the industrial fire in Santa Pola described in this news).
• Forest fires: the Consortium has a specific forest fire extinction service and is integrated into the regional emergency device, coordinated with the Generalitat, according to Law 7/2011 of the Valencian Community, cited as a key regulation in preparation guides for access to the body (training reference).
• Rescue and salvage: rescue of people and animals in traffic accidents, collapses, entrapments, height, aquatic environments, or confined spaces, as recorded in the official intervention service functions (interventions).
• Emergencies not strictly “fire-related”: sanitation of damaged facades and structures, removal of elements at risk of falling, hazardous materials management, and other incidents derived from extreme weather phenomena, summarized in preparatory materials for competitive exams (function analysis).
• Medicalized rescue: the Consortium has a medicalized Special Rescue Group (GER) with provincial capacity, integrated into the coordination scheme of the Emergency Coordination Center (112), according to the operational description of CCE-Control 3.

Supramunicipal management and institutional framework

The Consortium's Statutes, adapted by the General Assembly on December 10, 2020 (Statutes 2020), define the organization as a collaboration formula between the Valencian Generalitat, the Provincial Council of Alicante, and the municipalities to provide the service on a supramunicipal basis.

• Comprehensive service management: it corresponds to the Consortium to order, regulate, and manage the fire service in the province, setting homogeneous criteria for organization and provision, as established in the Statutes (Consortium composition).
• Territorial scope: covers all integrated municipalities, with special relevance for municipalities under 20,000 inhabitants whose material competence in emergencies is effectively assumed by the Provincial Council through the Consortium, as stated in the statutory document.
• Legal capacity: the Consortium can enter into contracts, assume obligations, exercise actions and appeals, always under its Statutes and sectoral regulations (institutional profile).
• Action outside the ordinary scope: it can intervene in other territories at the request of the competent authority of the Generalitat or the Directorate General of Emergencies in case of major incidents, according to the principle of inter-administrative collaboration provided in regional civil protection legislation.

Regulations framing its competencies

The distribution and exercise of the Consortium's competencies is supported by a block of state and regional regulations:

• Law 7/2011 of the Generalitat on Prevention, Fire Extinction, and Rescue Services of the Valencian Community, which establishes the model of fire services and the figure of supramunicipal consortia as a management instrument (regulatory analysis).
• Decree 163/2019 of the Generalitat, which sets bases and criteria for personnel selection of fire services in the Community, applicable to Consortium personnel (access information).
• Law 31/1995 on Occupational Risk Prevention, cited in official syllabi (reference syllabus), which regulates safety and health obligations of firefighters as workers exposed to special risks.
• Regional civil protection regulations and special plans, which frame the Consortium's participation in the Community's emergency system and its coordination with 112 and the competent Department, as highlighted in the framework of the State Pact against the climate emergency and the improvement of fire devices (internal negotiation).

Internal organization and development of competencies

The Consortium structures its competencies through a network of stations (Alcoy, Elche, Torrevieja, San Vicente, Crevillent, etc.), coordinated from its control center and with special devices during high-risk campaigns or major events, as evidenced by its public communications (corporate website). The modernization of material and technological means is directly linked to its competency capacity to provide a rapid and coordinated response in the province, as highlighted by various technical and training information about the service (structure and operations).

In summary, the competencies of the Provincial Firefighters Consortium of Alicante combine the strictly operational dimension (extinguishing fires and rescuing) with the function of technical authority and manager of the provincial fire system, under a regional legal framework that recognizes it as a central piece of the civil protection device in the province.

This summer, most fire prevention measures in the Valencian Community are concentrated in the urban-forest environment of Valencia and in the regional deployment by the Generalitat, which has been joined by other municipalities. In the capital, reinforcements of firefighters and surveillance in the Devesa del Saler, temporary closures of access to the forest, and citizen information campaigns are combined. In other municipalities, the available information indicates that they apply the regional resolutions restricting uses in the forest, rely on specific prevention funds, and reinforce local surveillance, although municipal plans as detailed as Valencia's have barely been disseminated.

Measures by the Valencia City Council in the Devesa del Saler

The most complete example is Valencia, which has activated a specific summer device in the Devesa del Saler. According to municipal notes, the El Saler fire station has had a stable reinforcement since June 15 (a corporal and five additional firefighters), allowing two full patrols to monitor the Devesa day and night and act immediately on any fire outbreak, with extinguishing equipment on board (app and 2026 fire device and Devesa del Saler device).

On days of extreme risk (Pre-emergency level 3 of the Special Plan against Forest Fire Risk, PEIF), the City Council has ordered the total closure of tracks and paths of the Devesa de El Saler forest mass to vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians, also canceling any activity inside the forest mass. Only transit of management, supply, maintenance, surveillance vehicles, residents, agricultural operations, or services located in the natural park is allowed (closure of Devesa access and surveillance and closure due to heat wave).

Additionally, Valencia has deployed eleven fixed and fifteen portable SIDEINFO cannons that activate when there is maximum fire alert or critical temperature and humidity levels. These cannons can spray up to 2,966 liters of water per minute each (about 10,000 liters per minute in the fixed system) to moisten vegetation and create “wet corridors” that slow fire spread (resources for heat wave and Devesa device).

The city council has also tested a pilot application, Alertes IV, which allows real-time communications between firefighters and residents of high-rise buildings during emergencies, within the specific Devesa device, with a view to extending it later to the entire city (Alertes IV project).

Prevention campaigns and self-protection culture

Alongside the operational deployment, Valencia is emphasizing the “culture of prevention.” The municipal program València + Segura disseminates specific recommendations on heat waves and fire prevention, accessible via QR codes on digital billboards and the municipal website (resources and services for heat wave and València + Segura). It stresses not to light fires or use fireworks in the area, not to throw cigarette butts, not to block emergency accesses, and to keep the surroundings of homes in forest environments free of fuel (advice to the population).

Regional measures conditioning all municipalities

Beyond Valencia, the Generalitat has established the mandatory framework for all municipalities. On July 6, a resolution was issued that, with pre-emergency level 3, imposes additional restrictions: suspension of works and tasks in forest lands or their surroundings, general prohibition of lighting fires or recreational use of fire in forest areas and within a 500-meter strip, and suspension of authorizations for sports tests in forest lands (resolution of July 6, 2026). Municipalities such as Segorbe or Chiva have disseminated these bans through their channels (Segorbe notice and Chiva statement), and local media also report seasonal restrictions on fire use and agricultural burns in various municipalities of Marina Baixa (summer 2026 restrictions).

The Generalitat has also opened a line of aid for extensive grazing of sheep, goats, horses, and cattle in “strategic prevention zones,” from which rural municipalities can benefit to reduce the load of vegetal fuel through livestock (extensive grazing aid). It has also established a Commission of the Municipal Strategic Fund for Fire Prevention and Forest Management, which channels resources to municipalities for local forest management and cleaning actions (municipal strategic fund), in a context where the Emergency area foresees 139 million for the AVSRE, 79 for firefighters and SGISE, and 21 million for works linked to the DANA (Emergency budget).

Other cities and reinforcement of the regional device

Available information indicates that other cities in the Valencian Community (Alicante, Castellón, and inland municipalities) have integrated into this regional framework, applying fire use prohibitions, reinforcing Local Police and civil protection surveillance, and adapting their local burn plans to Generalitat restrictions, but municipal devices as specific as Valencia's have not yet been detailed publicly. It is known that the Community leads regional investment in fire prevention and extinction in 2026, with a budget of 298.47 million euros (regional spending ranking), and that there is a political debate in Les Corts about further strengthening these means, for example by redirecting bullfighting funds to Emergencies, as proposed by Compromís (“less bullfighters and more firefighters”).

In summary, outside Valencia city, specific municipal measures have barely been publicly detailed, but everything indicates that municipalities are acting as part of the regional device: they apply pre-emergency resolutions, collaborate with forest firefighters, and rely on regional funds and aids to reinforce cleaning and forest management. No further city-specific information is available in the consulted sources.

To complete the context on fires, prevention, and extreme risk this summer of 2026, other current and opinion pieces can also be consulted in Demócrata and official media: fire map in Spain, fire status on July 9, heat wave and fire risk, “Stop al Foc” campaign, regional prevention technical information, and detailed divulgation of the summer campaign, among others.