The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, is scheduled to travel this Monday, July 13, to the province of Almería to tour the area affected by the Los Gallardos fire, which has so far caused the death of 12 people, according to sources from the Executive told Europa Press.
As a consequence of this visit, the head of the Executive has decided to postpone until Wednesday, July 15, the institutional act of demolition of the La Línea de la Concepción Border Fence, initially set for Monday the 13th.
The Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Relations with the Cortes, Félix Bolaños, traveled this Saturday to the advanced command post located in Turre (Almería), from where the extinction tasks of the Los Gallardos (Almería) forest fire, which has already ravaged around 6,600 hectares, are being directed.
Bolaños, who has underlined the coordination between all the administrations involved, has reported on the "virulent" nature of the fire which, according to expert estimates, "may have advanced 100 meters per minute," which gives it a "gravity that has never been known" as a "consequence of the climate emergency that the world is suffering," as he has warned.
Accompanied by the Secretary General of Civil Protection and Emergencies of the Ministry of the Interior, Virginia Barcones, the minister insisted, after more than an hour gathering information at the advanced command post, that the current conditions of temperature, wind, and humidity allow for a shift from a defensive to an offensive strategy against the flames with the aim of achieving their stabilization.
Seriously Injured and Health Situation
In addition to the fatalities, 18 people have required medical attention as a result of the fire, of whom five remain in serious condition of varying degrees, as confirmed to Europa Press by sources from the Junta de Andalucía. They specified that seven patients are being treated at the Torrecárdenas University Hospital, where one of them is in serious condition in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).
Likewise, another four injured individuals continue to be admitted to the Burn Unit of the Virgen del Rocío University Hospital in Seville. On the other hand, the La Inmaculada Hospital in Huércal-Overa has treated the remaining eleven patients, whose condition remains under observation.
Regarding the fatalities, after the completion of the autopsies performed by the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) of Almería on the bodies of the 12 deceased individuals, the analysis of DNA samples is pending to proceed with their definitive identification.