The Xunta of Galicia has deployed new firefighting teams to the provinces of Ávila and Madrid this Friday to support the control efforts of the active wildfires, for which the central Government has declared a national interest emergency. These reinforcements add to the operation that Galicia had already sent to León on Thursday.
In total, the Galician community has mobilized "more than 60 firefighting personnel, both aerial and ground, and different resources," as detailed by the president of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, on his profile on the social network 'X'. "In complex situations, Galicia responds," he emphasized in his message.
A day earlier, when announcing the first deployment of resources to Castilla and León, Rueda had stressed that the collaboration will be offered "always guaranteeing full operability" in Galicia during the peak fire risk season.
The Galician president then recalled that the neighboring community faces areas with "very complicated" situations due to the fires. He also confirmed that it was the person in charge of the operation in Castilla and León who requested support and that the Xunta was at their disposal "just as they were at other times."
"We were asked that, as much as possible, we provide resources; and as much as possible, we will do so," insisted the head of the regional government, who warned that one cannot "lower the guard" when in a high-risk period, and specified that, in this scenario, "some resources can be diverted."
National interest emergency in Madrid and Ávila
In relation to the wildfires in which Galicia participates since this Friday, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, declared on Thursday night the national interest emergency "as a consequence of the evolution" of the active fires in the municipalities of Villa del Prado and San Martín de Valdeiglesias (Community of Madrid) and Burgohondo (Ávila).
The Interior adopted this decision due to the "concurrence of these wildfires" and the "especially adverse" weather conditions, as well as the "need" to deploy "a significant volume of resources" from different public administrations. In the Community of Madrid, the wildfires have left more than 10,000 people evacuated and several residences for the elderly empty as of early Friday.