Forest fires are a recurrent concern when the summer season begins. In fact, they have increased both in number and fierceness, and this fact is directly related to climate change. According to EFFIS (European Forest Fire Information System) data on fire seasons, 2022 was the worst year of the century: the area burnt in less than seven months already exceeded the total area burnt by fire in 2012, which was previously the worst year on record. By the middle of the summer season, the area burnt across the EU was three times the average of the last 15 years. As of August 6, 2022, Spain alone accounted for 40% (39.39%) of the total in the European Union in 2022, i.e. 235,575 hectares out of a total of 600,731 hectares. The worst fire in the history of Galicia, one of the regions in Europe which faces the greatest threat from forest fires, occurred this summer in O Courel. Part of it had already burned last year. The O Courel mountainous region is one of the most valuable natural areas in Europe.
Fire and ashes
Series, 3rd place
The century-old forest of Souto de Vilar was razed to the ground like the others. The village was also burnt to the ground. Only two houses were saved.
The fire in O Courel leaves the southern part of the area devastated. Only a few villages could be saved because the native trees around them helped slow down the fire. The rest of the area, covered with pine and eucalyptus monocultures, burned violently en masse.
Environmental agents are studying the advance of the fire to assess how to deal with it.
Forest firefighters move around the site of the blaze to access the head of the fire.
Neighbors try to stop the advance of the fire in front of houses in Froxán. There are few neighbours left in this area, and depopulation is one of the causes of today’s large forest fires.
A firefighter monitors the fire’s advance in the O Courel mountains.
Firefighters are awaiting the arrival of a helicopter to change position.
Emilio takes a walk through his home town of Vilar which has been devastated by the fire.
Exhausted forest firefighters from the Rio brigade taking a break from the hard and precarious work of extinguishing theRibas de Sil fire, O Courel.
The fire in O Courel leaves the southern part of the area devastated. Only a few villages could be saved because the native trees around them helped slow down the fire. The rest of the area, covered with pine and eucalyptus monocultures, burned violently en masse.
The century-old forest of Souto de Vilar was one of many that were razed to the ground. The village was also destroyed. Only two houses were saved.