The mayor of Santa Cruz de la Serós, outraged with the management of the fire in Aragón: "The town is about to burn"

In Aragón, the evacuation of a municipality due to forest fire risk is decided within the regional and municipal civil protection system. The legal basis consists of Law 4/2024 of the Civil Protection and Emergency Management System of Aragón, the Special Forest Fire Plan (PROCINFO), approved by Decree 167/2018, the Territorial Plan PLATEAR, approved by Decree 220/2014, and adaptation and prevention regulations, such as Order AGM/681/2023. In practice, the decision is coordinated between the mayor, as the highest local authority, and the director of the regional plan, through 112 Aragón and the operational coordination bodies.

Applicable regulatory framework and plans

The general regional framework is set by Law 4/2024 (also published in the BOA: [link]), which regulates the Civil Protection System and assigns functions to the Government of Aragón, the competent department, and municipalities.

Specifically for forest fires, the following operate:

• PROCINFO: Special Civil Protection Plan for Forest Fire Emergencies, approved by Decree 167/2018, which organizes the response to these fires.
• Its adaptation and preventive development through Order AGM/681/2023, which links the fire danger alert levels (NAPIF) with restrictive and preparatory measures, including provision of shelters for potential evacuations.
• The Territorial Civil Protection Plan of Aragón (PLATEAR), approved by Decree 220/2014, which sets the command structure, phases and emergency levels, and common procedures, also applicable to fires when population centers are affected.

As a national reference framework, there are the National Civil Protection Strategy, the State Forest Fire Plan approved by Resolution of October 31, 2014, and the Basic Guideline approved by Royal Decree 893/2013, which establish common coordination criteria.

Who can order the evacuation

Law 4/2024 establishes that:

• The mayor is the highest civil protection authority in the municipal area and “will adopt, in case of emergencies, all necessary measures for the protection of people, animals, and property,” immediately informing 112 Aragón. From this competence derives the ability to order evacuations within the municipality in local emergencies.
• The head of the regional department competent in civil protection can activate PLATEAR and special plans (such as PROCINFO) and exercise unified command in emergencies requiring plan activation, being able to assume population protection decisions when the emergency exceeds the municipal scope.
• The director general of civil protection can lead the plans in alert phase or, if the plan itself foresees, in emergency phase.
• In especially serious situations, the President of the Government of Aragón can declare an “integral emergency situation” and directly assume the direction of all actions.

Phases and levels: from alert to evacuation

According to PLATEAR (chapter 9, operability) and PROCINFO:

• Alert and emergency phases and emergency levels are defined, depending on severity, extent, and whether local or regional capacity is sufficient.
• Order AGM/681/2023 specifies alert levels for fire danger (green, yellow, orange, red, and red plus) and foresees preventive actions for very high or extreme risk situations, including that municipalities have identified shelters and vulnerable persons “in case of evacuations.”

The typical procedure to evacuate a municipality or part of it, according to this framework, is:

1. Risk assessment by forestry and civil protection services and issuance of alerts (NAPIF) in coordination with 112 Aragón.
2. Activation of PROCINFO and, if it affects population and multiple risks, integration into PLATEAR, by decision of the head of the competent civil protection department.
3. Constitution of the Operational Coordination Center (CECOP/CECOPI, depending on scale) and, on the ground, the Advanced Command Post, according to the plans and the State Forest Fire Plan ([link]).
4. Technical evacuation proposal from the Command Post (extinguishing services, Civil Guard/Police, 112), based on the expected fire behavior and vulnerability of the population center.
5. Formal evacuation decision:
   • By the mayor, if it remains within the municipal risk area and regional command has not been assumed.
   • By the director of the regional plan or, if applicable, by the President of the Government of Aragón, when the emergency is under regional command.
6. Execution of the coordinated evacuation through Security Forces, emergency services, and civil protection volunteers, using shelters and resources foreseen in municipal plans and PROCINFO.

Coordination between municipality and Autonomous Community

The Aragón Forest Law and the regional publication, along with Law 1/2013 on Fire Prevention and Extinction and Rescue Services, reinforce the obligation of municipalities and extinguishing services to coordinate in prevention and response. The integration of the mayor in the governing bodies of the regional plan (advisory council) is foreseen in Law 4/2024 itself, so evacuation decisions are made with local participation but within unified direction when the fire exceeds municipal capacity.

Other related regulatory references

As context of the national system, the following are also included:

• Order ECD/1527/2015 and Royal Decree 907/2013, on training in emergency coordination and civil protection.
• Order EFD/659/2024 and Royal Decree 1085/2020, which partially update this training.
• Order TES/1223/2021, on labor measures after civil protection emergencies.
• Other provisions without direct impact on evacuation, such as orders on collector coins (Order ECE/1345/2018, Order EIC/108/2017) or administrative databases (Resolution of August 5, 2011).
• Sectoral civil protection and personal data regulations, such as Resolution of March 21, 2023 and the AEPD resolutions of 2023 and 2024 (Emilio Aced 2024, Ángela Ruiz Robles 2024, Emilio Aced 2023, Ángela Ruiz Robles 2023), not directly related to fires but integrated into the same legal system.
At what emergency levels of PROCINFO or PLATEAR is the evacuation of inhabited centers usually considered in Aragón? What specific role does the mayor have and what decision-making margin does he/she retain when the Autonomous Community assumes command of the forest fire emergency? What prior planning obligations (municipal plans, identification of shelters, census of vulnerable persons) do Aragonese municipalities have regarding forest fire risk?

In the Spanish legal system, the competencies of a mayor in civil protection are framed within the general distribution between State–autonomous communities–local entities. At the state level, Law 7/1985 on Local Regime Bases and Law 17/2015 of the National Civil Protection System establish the role of the municipality and local entities in emergencies, while the Regulation on Organization, Functioning, and Legal Regime of Local Entities specifies internal functioning in urgent situations. Autonomous communities then develop in detail what the mayor does in their civil protection system, but always within this basic framework. From these norms, a general scheme of own functions, direction of municipal services, and coordination with other administrations can be extracted.

Basic regulatory framework

The key state norms are:

• Law 7/1985, on Local Regime Bases, which establishes the institutional position of the municipality and regulates the functioning of local bodies (Law 7/1985).
• Law 17/2015, of the National Civil Protection System, which defines the system, civil protection plans, and the role of autonomous communities and local entities (Law 17/2015).
• Royal Decree 2568/1986, which approves the Regulation on Organization, Functioning, and Legal Regime of Local Entities (ROF), relevant for adopting agreements in urgent situations (Regulation of Local Entities).

Added to these are the Basic Civil Protection Standard and various basic guidelines for specific risks, which articulate territorial and special planning, into which municipal plans must fit.

Direction and coordination of municipal services

Law 17/2015 recognizes that local entities are part of the National Civil Protection System and have developed “effective municipal civil protection services” integrated into emergency management. On this basis, it follows that:

• Municipal civil protection services (groups, municipal fire services, etc.) act within the organization of the town hall, whose political apex is the mayor.
• The law itself foresees that territorial and special plans of local scope are prepared and approved by the competent local administration, which in practice places the mayor as the political reference of that planning, although details are specified in autonomous community regulations.

The mayor, as president of the town hall, is therefore the ordinary authority of reference to direct the action of these municipal services in the immediate response phase, according to the organization foreseen in civil protection plans.

Approval and activation of municipal plans

According to Law 17/2015, Civil Protection Plans are the instrument that sets the “organic-functional framework” and coordination mechanisms between administrations. It distinguishes between:

• Territorial plans of autonomous or local scope, approved by “the competent administration, autonomous or local.”
• Special plans for specific risks, in whose preparation and execution local entities also participate.

At the local level, this translates into the town hall having to approve its territorial or municipal action plan and foresee in it who activates it (usually, the mayor or the body he/she designates) and what command structure applies in case of emergency. The specification of that competence (what the plenary approves, what the mayor orders, what is delegated) is set in the combination of Law 7/1985, the ROF, and specific autonomous community regulations.

Urgent measures, orders to the population, and functioning of bodies

Regarding the adoption of urgent measures, the general framework is twofold:

• On one hand, Law 17/2015 contemplates that civil protection plans establish the coordination and command scheme and articulate the immediate response, which includes communications, warnings, and population protection measures. The mayor, as local authority, provides political and formal coverage to these decisions in his/her municipal area.
• On the other, Law 7/1985 foresees that, “when exceptional situations of force majeure, serious collective risk, or public catastrophes concur,” the collegiate bodies of local entities may meet remotely, upon the mayor or president’s assessment of the situation. This allows maintaining political decision-making capacity during the emergency (Law 7/1985).

The ROF complements this framework by regulating extraordinary and urgent extraordinary sessions convened by the mayor “when the urgency of the matter does not allow” ordinary deadlines; these mechanisms are key to adopting immediate agreements related to the emergency, whether for resources, urgent contracting, or exceptional measures.

Coordination, intermunicipal solidarity, and information

Law 17/2015 emphasizes the need for coordination between State, autonomous communities, and local entities, and foresees that the State collaborates with local entities by providing resources in emergencies not declared of national interest. At the same time, Law 7/1985 allows that, after a civil emergency due to natural or human catastrophes with serious damage, local entities provide human and material resources to other affected municipalities, “in the interest of protecting public interests and applying the principle of solidarity.” That decision corresponds to the competent bodies of the local entity, among which the mayor is the central figure.

Additionally, Law 17/2015 designs a National Civil Protection Information Network and an Alert Network, in which local entities must channel data on emergencies and receive warnings. The mayor is the local authority who assumes political responsibility that this information is issued and used to correctly alert the population according to established protocols.

Access to state aid for damages caused by forest fires is supported by a common framework of civil protection and emergency subsidies. Generally, damages must result from an event considered an emergency or catastrophe and, in many cases, from a zone declared "severely affected by a civil protection emergency" according to Law 17/2015. The aid is directed both to individuals and families (personal damages, housing, and belongings), as well as to agricultural holdings, small businesses, and public administrations. They are compatible with insurance and compensations, but only up to the real value of the damage.

Basic regulatory framework

The general requirements are drawn from three normative blocks:

• Law 17/2015, of the National Civil Protection System, which regulates the declaration of "zone severely affected by a civil protection emergency" and associated recovery measures, including economic and fiscal aid (Law 17/2015).
• Royal Decree 307/2005, which sets the general regime of subsidies for emergencies or catastrophes (covers forest fires) and the granting procedure (Royal Decree 307/2005).
• Specific royal decree-laws (for example, Royal Decree-law 11/2019), which apply this scheme to specific episodes (fires, DANA, etc.) and specify deadlines and amounts.

General requirements regarding damage

Types of covered damages

According to Law 17/2015 and Royal Decree 307/2005, forest fires may give rise to aid for:

• Personal damages: death and absolute and permanent disability.
• Damages to main residence and essential belongings.
• Damages to industrial, commercial, tourist, agricultural, and service establishments, usually small businesses (up to 50 employees, according to Royal Decree 307/2005).
• Damages to agricultural, livestock, and forestry productions and holdings, regulated in each specific royal decree-law (for example, Royal Decree-law 11/2019).
• Damages to municipal infrastructures and public services of local corporations (roads, networks, basic equipment).

Law 17/2015 requires that material damages be “certain, economically assessable, and related to goods covered by insurance, public or private”. The appraisal can be done by the Insurance Compensation Consortium or public technical services.

Compatibility with insurance and compensations

Law 17/2015 and Royal Decree 307/2005 establish that:

• The aid is subsidiary and complementary to other coverage systems (private insurance, Insurance Compensation Consortium, other public aid).
• They are compatible with those compensations, but the sum of all cannot exceed the actual value of the damage.

Who can be a beneficiary

Royal Decree 307/2005 specifies typical beneficiaries:

• Family or economic cohabitation units with personal or material damages (housing/belongings), with aid weighted according to their economic situation.
• Natural or legal persons owning commercial, industrial, or service establishments with fewer than 50 employees, whose assets related to the activity have been damaged.
• Owners of agricultural and livestock holdings, with significant losses in production or non-insurable elements, according to each sectoral royal decree-law (such as Royal Decree-law 11/2019).
• Local Corporations that prove lack of resources to cover emergency expenses and infrastructure repairs.
• Homeowners’ associations with damages to common elements affecting the safety and functionality of the building.
• Natural or legal persons who, required by the competent authority, have provided personal services or contributed goods during the emergency.

Declaration of affected zone and activation of measures

Law 17/2015 foresees that the Council of Ministers declares a “zone severely affected by a civil protection emergency” when personal or material damages seriously alter living conditions or paralyze essential services. This declaration can be requested by affected administrations and is accompanied by a catalog of measures, including:

• Aid to individuals for housing and belongings.
• Compensations to local corporations for expenses and infrastructure damages.
• Aid to companies and agricultural and forestry holdings.
• Tax benefits (property tax, business tax, traffic fees, income tax) and labor and Social Security measures.

However, Law 17/2015 itself allows granting aid even without formal declaration of affected zone, through the general regime of Royal Decree 307/2005, when an emergency or catastrophe situation is proven.

Deadlines and procedure

• Royal Decree 307/2005 generally sets a one-month deadline from the end of the causative events to submit the application to the Government Delegation or Subdelegation.
• Specific royal decree-laws, such as Royal Decree-law 11/2019, have extended the deadline to two months for certain aids, so the specific episode’s norm must always be considered.
• It is required to provide documentation proving ownership of the goods (property tax receipts, deeds, contracts), damage reports, and, if applicable, insurance company certifications on compensation and deductible.

Labor and unemployment measures linked to the fire

In zones declared severely affected by forest fires, labor and unemployment measures of article 24.2.b) of Law 17/2015 are also activated, developed by Order TES/443/2022:

• Consideration of force majeure for temporary employment regulation files (ERTE) due to suspension or reduction of working hours derived from the fire.
• Possibility of receiving unemployment benefits even without sufficient contributions and without consuming maximum entitlement periods.

These measures are not direct patrimonial aids but complement the state protection network after major forest fires.