Tinderbox Spaniards urged to adapt the landscape to prevent wildfires

The people of Paüls will celebrate the feast of their patron saint, Sant Roc, with a mass today, followed by a communal meal eaten at stone tables, with jota folk dances, and a profound and lingering sense of relief.

- Sam Jones Madrid Stephen Burgen Baix Penedès

As the mayor of the small Catalan mountain town points out, last month's wildfire – which turned the night skies a hellish orange, blackened the surrounding hills and devoured 3,300 hectares of land – was a near-disaster that stirred memories of the 2009 blaze in nearby Horta de Sant Joan that killed five firefighters.

"People were afraid everything would burn and that they'd lose everything," says Enric Adell. "They were scared of getting trapped and not being able to get out of the village."

The fear of a fire like that, he adds, is unlike any other fear.

"We've been through a pandemic and a nationwide power cut and torrential rains, but a fire on this scale was something else – as was the aftermath," says Adell.

In the hills above the village square, the charred trees are a reminder of what could have happened without the bravery of hundreds of firefighters, one of whom, Antonio Serrano, lost his life. Changing winds and sheer luck also played a part.

"When a fire hits," says the mayor, "it really leaves its mark."

This summer's fires have already left their mark across the length and breadth of Spain, from Galicia and Castilla y León in the north-west, to Catalonia in the north-east, from the smart suburbs outside Madrid to Extremadura in the south-west, and down to the beaches of Tarifa in Andalucia.

As well as panic and the increasingly familiar tang of smoke, this year's fires have brought with them a sense of déjà vu.

The deadly summer of 2022 laid bare Spain's huge vulnerability as the effects of the climate emergency become increasingly plain. Three years on, the country is once again on the defensive.

"The fires are one of the parts of the impact of that climate change, which is why we have to do all we can when it comes to prevention," the country's environment minister, Sara Aagesen, told Cadena Ser radio earlier this week.