The regional deputy of the PP Manuel Cifuentes has lashed out this Wednesday, in an appearance before the media, against the "total absence" of effective fire prevention measures by the Government of Asturias, assuring that "once again the regional Executive tries to gloss over its inaction with headlines." In his opinion, the Principality faces the risk of forest fires with a plan approved in 2001 and with a very reduced budget execution.
The parliamentarian has emphasized that fires do not originate on the day the first flame is seen. "They start many months before: when the mountain is not cleaned, when the territory is not maintained, when there is no planning and when the rural world is abandoned. This absence of planning has political responsibilities, which in Asturias only appear when the flames do, to give figures that are nothing more than smoke," he warned, holding the regional Executive responsible for not having acted in advance.
In this line, he pointed out that every summer the same "ritual" is repeated: the Government of the Principality appears, launches announcements, promises large investments, and conveys the impression that the situation is under control. "But when the data and the reality of the Asturian mountain are analyzed, the conclusion is exactly the opposite," he noted, questioning the contrast between the official messages and the situation on the ground.
Cifuentes has described "a territory increasingly abandoned, with a huge accumulation of plant fuel," and has argued that this scenario is not the result of chance, but "a direct consequence of the failure of the policies for the rural environment developed by this Government," while adding that "while the countryside loses population and activity, the mountain becomes a much more dangerous scenario every year."
In this context, he emphasized that, far from reversing this dynamic, the Executive "has not even been able to update the main instrument of forest planning." "Asturias continues with a Forest Plan from the year 2001, and the mountain of 2026 cannot be managed with plans from the beginning of the century," he lamented, insisting on the need to adapt the regulations and planning to the current reality.
The popular deputy has stated that the Principality has gone too many years without adapting its forestry policy to climate, economic, and territorial changes. "This situation generates legal insecurity, hindering forest management and reducing competitiveness for a strategic sector for Asturias. Let us not forget that more than half of the Asturian mountains belong to small private owners, who need more support for their use and less bureaucracy and obstacles," he emphasized, demanding more facilities for these owners.
According to his details, in 2025 a quarter of the funds allocated for forest management went unused and, in addition, the allocation planned this year for the fire service of Asturias amounts to 3.87 million euros, of which only 12% had been executed by June 30. For Cifuentes, these figures highlight the gap between announcements and the actual application of the budget.
"The reality is that there is no investment in prevention or extinction, and that contradicts the discourse that the Government tries to convey to the Asturians. Fires are not prevented with propaganda, nor is the life and property of those living in rural areas protected, nor is our natural heritage preserved. Asturians need policies, not communication campaigns; they need planning, not headlines; they need a Government that understands that prevention always costs less than putting out fires," he warned, calling for a shift in priorities.
Cifuentes has reiterated that the proposals of the PP involve a forestry policy focused on prevention, active management of the mountain, and support for the rural environment. "To achieve this, it is necessary to work permanently with the mountain municipalities promoting the creation of safety perimeters around rural nuclei, improving water infrastructures to facilitate the work of extinction services, providing more and better resources to our firefighters, favoring the active management of the mountain by supporting the forestry sector and the rural environment, and training the population," he explained, defending a continued and coordinated strategy.
Likewise, he has insisted that the priority must be the prevention and safety of people. In this regard, he stated that "fires are becoming increasingly uncontrollable, and once they occur, the main thing is to save lives and for people to know how they should act to keep themselves safe. All of this constitutes a true policy of prevention and extinction. What does not constitute a policy is to appear every summer with large figures that then do not appear reflected in the execution of the budgets."