After a summer in which forest fires once again devastated Spain -275,209 hectares burned until September 20, the largest area in this period in 10 years-, on November 1 the activity of thousands of forest firefighters from all over the country ended. The end of the summer campaign also means the end of their contracts and, according to calculations by the Independent Trade Union Center and Civil Servants (CSIF), around 2,000 people are now unemployed or taking other positions until their positions open up again. But not all will return, one of the consequences of this precariousness, which also has an impact on the prevention work carried out in winter.
"This figure, with all certainty, is much higher given the disparity of organizations and agreements and transfers of personnel between the central, regional and local administrations," explains CSIF in a statement. "In short, we confirm that the troops and devices against forest fires once again reduce their operations to a minimum, a common practice that is repeated every year, despite climate change that causes forest fires on the Peninsula to no longer be exclusive to the summer season," they say.
Added to the widespread practice of discontinuous permanent contracts are precarious conditions - bases of operations that lack water and electricity, defective or expired material or workers whose professional category or dangerousness is not recognized - and even inactive staff - despite the fact that the working condition has changed - due to the absence of prevention plans in certain communities.
According to CSIF, the "most flagrant" cases are "Andalusia, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha and the public company TRAGSA in charge of managing the Natural Parks." In Andalusia, for example, the high-risk campaign ended on October 15 and the union estimates that the staff of the Forest Fire Emergency Plan in Andalusia (INFOCA) will be reduced by 40%, which adds "to the personnel shortages detected this summer." Meanwhile, in Castilla y León they detect "a forest fire operation burdened by insufficient staff, exhausting days, guards imposed from one day to the next and calendar changes without planning or foresight" and in Castilla-La Mancha, "close to 700 workers remain in a temporary situation" with contracts "of just 103 days."
On the other hand, the public forest firefighters of the Fire Department of the Community of Madrid are still permanent, with surveillance and extinction functions, according to what Alfonso Ferrero, head of CSIF in Security and Emergencies ASEM-112 and firefighter of this Community, told EL MUNDO. "They are not used for forest fire prevention tasks or for contingencies in the natural and rural environment," he emphasizes, because at the beginning of November the personnel begin to be discharged from social security in a phased manner. "We are talking about 210 public employment positions in the Community of Madrid that go to Sepe or to precarious jobs to survive during the winter, to reach the next summer period," he laments.
This is, in fact, the case of Ferrero himself, who at the end of the campaign works as a vehicle fleet driver for the Community of Madrid. However, he denounces that "the most bloody thing" is that during the firefighting campaign, not even 50% of the 124 positions were hired, "which has left forestry trucks in the Fire Stations without going to the Madrid municipalities due to lack of personnel."
"It is sad that the working conditions and labor rights appropriate to this category, to these functions and to the professionals who extinguish forest fires year after year are not provided," continues Ferrero. The group began its fight for professional status more than a decade ago and now that it finally has its law, not all communities apply it.
