Spain counts the cost of “nightmare” wildfire summer

Jose Antonio Bruneia, the honey producer, stands on the side of the hill, where it keeps its cells near the Spanish village of Porto de Sanabria.

It refers to the specified place, a few hundred meters away on the corresponding mountain, where lightning hit a few weeks ago, considering a fire in the wildfire, which had dire consequences.

“August was a nightmare for me personally, but also for local farmers and everyone here in the village,” he says. “I am 47 years old and I have never seen a fierce fire.”

The matter ended in burning more than 20,000 hectares (49,000 acres) of the earth and causing thousands of people to evacuate the villages in this heavy agricultural angle in northwestern Spain, near the Portuguese border.

But it was just one of the many vast fires that destroyed Spain this summer, burning 0.8 % of the country’s surface area.

The areas were most affected here in the northwest, including the Castilla Y León and Galicia areas, as well as the western region of Extreadura.

Honey production, an important industry in northwestern Spain, was one of the main losses in the summer. Mr. Brunia knows people who lost up to 400 grammatical cells in fires.

Fortunately, 1500 healthy palm cells, because the fire stopped just meters away from the fields they keep. But the damage caused by nearby plants will have serious repercussions for his work.

“I calculate this year, I will lose 50 % of honey production, at least, due to fires, and the following year, or what is worse,” says Mr. Bruneia. This is because of the time it takes the flowers that the bees need to grow again in the surrounding fields.

“There are some types of flowers that will not appear again for three years,” he explains.

The lack of structural damage to its cells means that he cannot claim insurance. He is considering moving many of them elsewhere, hoping to improve the chances of bees to survive and reduce its future losses.

Many livestock farmers have also been forced to transport their animals in recent weeks, to avoid fires and to ensure that they are able to reach unstable pastures.

“Things cannot be worse for farmers [this summer]Fernando Garcia, a cow farmer of Castromil, says a village on the border between Castilla Y. Lyon and Gallisia.

After spending working hours with local volunteers and firefighters, it occurs to control another fire, on the edge of the village.

Mr. Garcia lost about 30 cattle this summer, the last of which was forced to put 11 animals that suffered severe burns. Sometimes, even its cows remain closed instead of allowing them to roam, due to fears of fires.

“All this had a major economic impact, but the biggest impact of all is that we cannot sleep at night,” he says. “It is constant tension.”

Although farmers like Mr. García expects insurance payments, he believes that there will be a striking cost.

“They may pay us, but next year, instead of our cost, for example, 5,000 euros [$5,858; £4,328]Insurance premiums will cost 10,000 euros or 15,000 euros, “he says:” Because insurance companies do not want to lose money. “

In August, when there were several large fires, the Coag National Farmers, when there were several large fires, estimated that the industry suffered from at least 600 million euros.

The largest costs of fields, properties and mortality have been burned. However, there are other major damages, such as the beehive, and the antennas used by farmers to identify their animals.

Farmers representatives are currently closed in negotiations with regional governments about the amount of public funds that must be paid to help the sector recover.

Another major economic victim of fires this summer was tourism, which represents 13 % of Spanish GDP and was the engine of the last powerful country growth.

Although most of the coastal areas associated with tourism avoid fires this summer, the southern province of Cádiz was an exception to hotels, and holiday homes and camping sites were evacuated due to burning.

The main hotspots of this summer, in the west and northwest, developed rural tourism in recent years as an alternative to the beach holidays that Spain was known.

Walking for long distances here, for example, along the Camino de Santiago path or in the mountain ranges in the area, as well as tourism related to wine and food.

The Sanabria Lake, the largest ice body of water on the Iberian Peninsula, is a major local attraction, surrounded by a natural garden. But the spread of the fire that started in Porto de Sanabria in mid -August caused it to be closed. Many tourists left the area, as smoke filled the air in nearby cities.

“In August, this area was at full capacity in terms of tourism and people who had second homes here,” says Miguel Angel Martos, the mayor of Galende, who is a few minutes’ drive from the lake.

“Then, on August 18, it decreased to 10 % of the capacity.”

For tourists, this was uncomfortable. But for many local population, he spent a financial disaster. Among them was óscar david García lópez, who had a contract to employ two of those on the beaches of the lake.

It is estimated that during the second half of August, when the local authorities in the lake were closed, he lost 80,000 euros, due to the rental of bars, wages and social security payments for its 14 employees, and the food he bought but cannot be sold.

“The regional government has said it will pay me 5,500 euros,” he says, laughing bitterly to think. “They will have to reach another type of compensation because I did not want to close, forced me to.”

The Hosteltu, a reports news platform on the tourism industry, warned that the damage caused by forest fires in such areas “is not limited to material influence, but also the effect on an image … from these destinations.”

This summer confirmed the famous division between urban and rural Spain. Contracts of immigration from rural areas, such the most difficult strikes from this summer, to urban centers means that 90 % of the Spanish population now live only 30 % of its territory.

The rest became known as la est

Fires, which could not be particularly disgustable this year, for the complex of this discontent only.

In Castromel, the local man Miguel Angel Garcia de.

He says: “It is difficult enough as staying alive because of the price of animal and fuel feeding – every day it is difficult for farmers to obtain,” he says. “Then on top, this happens.”