Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez acknowledged on Monday that Spain’s readiness for this summer’s devastating wildfires – which consumed more land than in any other year on record – was ‘clearly insufficient’.
Last month’s heatwave across southern Europe left four people dead in Spain and forced thousands to flee their homes, igniting a fierce political row between Sánchez’s socialist (PSOE) government and the main right-wing opposition group, the People’s Party (PP).
The PSOE accuse the PP of downplaying climate change and neglecting prevention measures in the regions it controls. The opposition, in turn, points to arson as the main culprit and argues that the central government failed to deploy adequate resources, particularly military support. ALSO READ: Spain’s wildfires spark new political clash, as PP call civil protection head ‘just another arsonist’.
‘We have had a clearly insufficient fire prevention policy,’ Sánchez said in Madrid, where he unveiled a ‘national pact against the climate emergency’. He cited shortages of firefighters and forest rangers, as well as a lack of forecasting tools.
The prime minister stressed that tackling such disasters cannot be limited to summer months. These blazes, he said, ‘are not extinguished in summer, they are put out in winter, in autumn, working every day of the year’ to reduce the risks when temperatures soar.
Sánchez also pointed to ‘inadequate’ rural management that had left ‘a countryside full of biomass and without fire breaks’, along with ‘obsolete infrastructure’. ALSO READ: Spanish government categorises wildfire-hit areas as ‘disaster zones’.
He underlined that climate change is worsening the situation, noting scientists’ warnings that human-driven global warming is lengthening and intensifying heatwaves that feed wildfires. ALSO READ: Pedro Sánchez visits wildfire-hit Galicia and pledges ‘national pact’ to address climate emergency.
According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), wildfires in Spain have already consumed hundreds of thousands of hectares this year — most of them in August — surpassing the previous peak of 306,000 hectares in 2022 and setting a new annual record since monitoring began in 2006. ALSO READ: Pedro Sánchez promises financial aid for reconstruction of areas hit by wildfires.
Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter from Spain in English.
Pido a todos los políticos del país que no polaricemos con esto. Queremos para nuestros hijos e hijas una España más verde.
Les garantizo que el Gobierno de España pone en marcha este proceso con humildad y vocación de acuerdo.
Actuemos. pic.twitter.com/ZenQIKBDa3
— Pedro Sánchez (@sanchezcastejon) September 1, 2025
Click here to get your business activity or services listed on our DIRECTORY.