Statement by the President of the Government of Spain following his visit to the area affected by the wildfire in Castellón

SPEECH BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SPAIN, PEDRO SÁNCHEZ

Good morning and thank you very much - first of all to the president and, of course, to the Mayor as well. We are also joined by the President of the Provincial Council and, indeed, all the representatives from the various levels of the National Civil Protection System, including the General State Administration, led by Minister Morant. Of course, Government representative, Pilar Bernabé, and the Secretary-General of the National Civil Protection System, Virginia. And, naturally, representatives from the Generalitat of the Valencian Community are here as well.

I always begin by expressing my thanks, first and foremost to the media, because, at a time as critical as the present, the media are - or rather, you are, if I may address you informally - very important; you play a vital role. At the end of the day, what citizens need in times of anxiety and distress is accurate information - information that enables them to protect themselves and understand the reality of the situation, in this case, regarding an emergency caused by a fire as serious as the one we are currently experiencing here in Castellón, and consequently, to combat misinformation.

And, unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation on social media. There are many hoaxes being spread, and naturally it is up to the media to counter them with data and facts. Ultimately, the goal is to provide not mere opinions, but factual data that helps citizens understand - first-hand and accurately - the decisions and measures being taken. These actions are driven by the priorities the Regional President mentioned earlier: ensuring safety and saving lives - which are, logically, the top priorities for all the public institutions that make up the National Civil Protection System. So, thank you to the media, because we're seeing a lot of hoaxes and misinformation - claims that the fires are being started deliberately to build solar power stations, lithium mines or rare-earth mines; that it's not allowed to clear the woodland; or that… Well, yes, some of the fires may indeed be started deliberately. We will see exactly what the investigation reveals - as the President rightly noted earlier - but in any case, what is certain is that the climate emergency, this sustained and systematic rise in temperatures we are seeing every year - is causing an exponential increase in the spread and severity of the fires we are experiencing, incidentally, with increasingly similar patterns in the fires we are seeing across the length and breadth of our country, from Almería, Ávila and Madrid, and of course here in Castellón, as well as in many other places.

We began the week with 130,000 hectares burned compared to last year; today, that figure stands at 170,000 - more than 170,000 hectares scorched - with around a dozen major fires spreading across the country. Furthermore, AEMET is already forecasting a new heatwave for this week. I would like to ask the public to exercise the utmost caution, to take every possible precaution and, as the mayor and the president have said previously, to pay close attention to the information provided by public institutions.

Secondly, in addition to expressing our gratitude, I would like to echo what the other institutions have said previously, namely that the National Protection System's top priority is, first and foremost, to protect the lives of people in the affected areas. Secondly, to protect the communities that are being affected by the fires. And thirdly to tackle the fire, in this case in Castellón. And that is what we are doing. That is why I ask for your patience. I would also ask for the understanding of those citizens who are being evacuated from their homes or confined to their homes, because what we are doing is taking decisions to protect these communities and, of course, to safeguard the lives of the residents of these communities.

There are difficult times ahead, complex times. We are set to see a rise in temperatures within the next few hours over the coming days. The EMET is set to announce a new heatwave across the Iberian Peninsula and I therefore ask for your understanding and urge all citizens across the country to take every possible precaution.

As I said earlier, more than 170,000 hectares have already been burnt across the country.

To put that into perspective, that is six times - six times - the total number of hectares burnt at this time last year, in 2025, and that was already a particularly difficult year, as we all remember.

There is one final point I would like to make - beyond, of course, acknowledging the institutional cooperation and collaboration among all levels of government in facing a common enemy, which is fire and wildfires. But there is one further point I would like to make. Of course, we must all play our part in the response to the fires and this climate emergency, but, as the president said earlier, we must also be involved in the recovery and reconstruction.

Tomorrow, at the Council of Ministers, the Government of Spain will approve the Royal Decree-law on areas severely affected by a civil protection emergency. The Government sub-delegations will therefore work in coordination with public institutions - in particular local authorities and provincial councils - to begin assessing the scale of the disaster caused by these fires. We must cooperate and work together not only in the response, recovery and reconstruction phases, but also in prevention.

In September last year, as you know, I put forward a proposal to all public authorities, all social partners and political parties, stating that we must heed the science and that we must also forge a major national agreement - a binding agreement addressing the climate emergency - because we must focus on prevention, so that the impact is less severe than what we are currently enduring, and so that reconstruction and recovery are far swifter and commensurate with the challenge posed by the climate emergency.

Today, just this morning, I announced measures relating to the eighth of the 15 pillars of that major climate emergency agreement we announced last September, namely the creation of more than a thousand climate shelters across the length and breadth of our country, many of which are linked to the General State Administration. I also urge all public authorities to build these climate shelters, particularly for residents who cannot afford to live in housing estates with swimming pools, or to pay for air conditioning - in short, all the things we're already familiar with. This is one of the key areas - one of the 15 main pillars - of that national agreement, of this national pact to tackle the climate emergency, which I shall never tire of reiterating over the coming days - particularly the fact that we must reach and implement this agreement through the cooperation of all public authorities and all representatives from the political, social, business and scientific sectors of our country.

The fires will continue; we will tackle the recovery, but every year we must be better prepared and more ready for a climate emergency that is, unfortunately, exceeding the levels and magnitudes that science has been warning us about - both Spain and Europe as a whole - for many years.

That is what I wanted to say, and, of course, to convey the Government of Spain's commitment to the response effort. We are deploying resources from the National Civil Protection System on a scale commensurate with the magnitude of the fires we are fighting. We will also be involved in the response and recovery efforts through the Royal Decree-Law that we are set to approve tomorrow at the Council of Ministers.

However, I urge that we also focus on prevention; to that end, I call for us to finally realise a national agreement - a State pact - to address the climate emergency, as this benefits our fellow citizens.

It also benefits our public administrations, enabling our citizens to live with greater security and guaranteeing the safe progress that every single region and territory in our country desires.

That is all. And many thanks once again to the media for tackling hoaxes and misinformation, and for providing accurate reports on the scale of the challenge we face and the latest developments - in this case, regarding the fire here in Castellón.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)