“It has been a very difficult night. The worst could have happened, fortunately it has not been so, and in that sense we must rejoice that all the troops are well and have not suffered the consequences of a fire whose virulence surprised at night,” said Bautist The highway, with flames several meters high.
The counselor acknowledged that the situation keeps very sensitive areas alert, such as Papuos and Becerra's throat, where fire could descend in chimney and further complicate extinction work. “I will not deny it or fall into infantilisms: the wind is today the biggest problem we face,” he said. Jarilla's fire has already razed 16,000 hectares and extends for an approximate perimeter of 164 kilometers.
Evacuations and confinements under study
Therefore, the Cecopi has decided to keep the peri -urban areas of Hervás and the houses isolated from Tornavacas, Navaconcejo, Jerte and Cabezuela del Valle. In addition, there has been an notice to the town of the throat, where neighbors are asked to have their basic belongings prepared in case the evacuation had to be activated throughout the day.
The smoke also worries in the town of Hervás, where a confinement is not ruled out again, as well as in Tornavacas, although in this case due to air quality and not because of the direct advance of the flames.
The emergency device keeps the shelter of the Sports City of Plasencia active to host the evicted population, with special attention to vulnerable people, previously identified by civil protection services and municipalities.
Fight from air and surveillance on land
In the operation of today, more than 460 troops, 25 aerial media, 7 heavy machines and 24 forest fire units, in addition to the collaboration of the UME, the army and teams arriving from other autonomous communities and from countries such as Germany, Portugal, Czech Republic and Slovakia, participate.
Bautista explained that the terrain conditions make the two main lines of work in Hervás and Jerte inaccessible, so the aerial media are the only ones that can attack them directly. Meanwhile, teams on land perform review and soda to avoid reactivations, a task that described as “fundamental”, although it may seem less visible.
The counselor also highlighted the surveillance work carried out by the groups of Civil Protection volunteers and army patrols, which allow to detect conatatures and reactivations on time.
In this sense, the Directorate of the Infoex Plan has called for citizen responsibility after yesterday afternoon several neighbors set fire to the herbs of their cherry trees with the aim of keeping the plots clear and preventing the fire from reaching their farms, a practice that put at risk the staff of the extinction teams.
An unprecedented device
Bautista stressed the “absolute coordination” between administrations and countries, which makes this operation a global device “never seen in Extremadura.” “The Extremaduran people will be grateful for a long time for the work of all the autonomous communities and the countries that have turned to us,” he added.
The counselor also wanted to transfer a message of recognition to the affected population: “instead of finding regrets, what we see every day are thanks and collaboration. The Extremadura people carry in their DNA suffering and resilience, and today demonstrates, once again, its ability to recognize and appreciate.”
Although temperatures have moderated – with minimum of 13 degrees during the early morning and maximums planned around 30 – the wind remains the main threat. “Today we cannot talk about optimism: meteorological reality forces us to be prudent,” Baptist concluded.
