Statement by the President of the Government of Spain following his visit to the Advanced Command Post in Navalcarnero

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

Many thanks to the media for attending this press conference following the CECOD meeting we have just held.

As you know, we are here in Navalcarnero and, as the general in charge of operational command told me earlier, we are at the heart of the Unified Integrated System in response to a national emergency arising from the fires in the Community of Madrid and also in the province of Ávila.

As I always do, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks - particularly at this time, when, fortunately, people are already being rehoused following the fire's being brought under control in some of the affected areas - and I would like to thank the media for their work, which is so important. Their work is vital in emergencies such as this, particularly when it comes to reporting accurately and objectively, and to combat hoaxes and misinformation, which only serve to cause anxiety, mistrust and a great deal of vulnerability among people who do not know exactly what situation they will face when they return to their homes or communities. And, indeed, that is something that is down to you, and I would like to acknowledge that once again in the fight against disinformation and hoaxes spread by the media.

We ask citizens to always obtain their information from public institutions, official information channels and, of course, reputable media outlets, such as many of those represented here today.

Secondly, as the secretary-general of the National Civil Protection System has also informed me and reported to the CECOD, there are currently ten active forest fires in Spain. As you know, at the request of the Regional Government of Madrid and also the Regional Government of Castilla y León, the fire in Ávila and also the fire in Madrid have been elevated to operational level 3. This is the first time in Spain, throughout the history of the National Civil Protection System, that a fire response has been raised to level 3 and is therefore now being led by the Government of Spain, through the National Civil Protection System, represented here by Minister Grande-Marlaska and, of course, by the Secretary-General for Civil Protection, Virginia Barcón, with operational command being exercised by the UME, specifically by General Marcos.

As you know, thanks in part to the favourable and positive developments regarding the fire in Toledo, the Regional Government of Castilla-La Mancha requested that the alert level be downgraded to level 2 and, as a result, is no longer part of the national emergency response, although we are continuing to work on both the fire in Ávila and the fire in Madrid.

Fortunately, the situation has improved, thanks to the work of public servants - and I would also like to reiterate the profound gratitude of the public authorities as a whole, but I am sure on behalf of Spanish society as a whole - thanks to the extraordinary work of everyone, of all the teams that have been involved - from the scientific community to the UME, including the Red Cross and the fire service - in short, I do not wish to name everyone individually, but simply to acknowledge each and every one of them; thanks to their extraordinary work, the situation continues to improve. With the utmost prudence, with the utmost caution, taking every possible precaution, but the outlook remains favourable. Work is currently under way to contain the fire and cool the area, amongst other things, to prevent any flare-ups in areas where we thought the situation had already been brought under control or stabilised.

Work is therefore continuing. I believe that the next 12 hours are going to be very important; they will be decisive in consolidating the work already carried out by the National Civil Protection System. And that is currently the main objective, the top priority. Fortunately, yesterday, as you know, we began with some good news: the rehousing of many residents from the affected areas, as well as the lifting of lockdown restrictions in those areas. And I would like to highlight not only the work, once again, of the State law enforcement forces and agencies who have supported the residents, but also that of the residents themselves, the public institutions, the local entities and the local authorities, because the response to this rehousing has truly been commendable. As I mentioned earlier, the Government's representative for the Community of Madrid, Fran, is also here today; his approach has been very positive and commendable, and this also demonstrates the civic spirit and solidarity of people across Spanish society when we face such critical situations as those we have, unfortunately, experienced over the last few weeks.

I would also like to urge those citizens who are still in lockdown or have been evicted from their homes to be patient and to place their trust in the institutions. We are joined by General Marcos, who is in charge of operational command. Your safety is our priority. Our aim is to save lives and, of course, to ensure that when the rehousing takes place, it is carried out with the utmost safeguards and security, so that they do not have to go through again what they suffered a few weeks ago as a result of these fires. I ask for your patience and understanding, and assure you that you are in the best possible hands - in this case, in the hands of the National Civil Protection System, making decisions based on the recommendations, naturally, of the UME's Operational Directorate.

And I would also like to mention - because this is something we have discussed over the last few days, and I also referred to it at the start of this brief speech - that this is the first time we have been at Level 3 of the national emergency response in the fight against wildfires. We have done so in other climate emergencies with which you are all very familiar and which I do not wish to go over again, but this is the first time we have done so in the context of wildfires, and I believe that the experience of collaboration and the sense of teamwork amongst all the institutions - from small local entities, through Provincial Administrations to regional governments, and of course including the UME and the National Civil Protection System - is proving to be very, very positive. Obviously, there are certainly things we can improve on. We will undoubtedly learn a great deal from a response of this scale to a national fire emergency. But I think we can conclude that the response is proving effective, thanks above all to the team spirit shown by all the authorities, in the knowledge that our only adversary, our only enemy in this case, is the fire, and that our top priority is to save lives, protect communities and beat the fire. Today I believe we are closer to that final objective, but we still have some very important, decisive hours ahead of us, in a complex situation - as reported by AEMET and as you in the media and any members of the public who have kept themselves informed are also aware - because AEMET has just informed us that we are now in the midst of a new heatwave, and that means there will be lower humidity and high temperatures; we will also have to see how the gusts of wind develop, as these could exacerbate the fire situations we are currently facing across the country.

I would therefore like to reiterate that we must all - each and every one of us - take the utmost care and exercise the utmost caution. Of course, the public authorities will be there; of course, the UME will be there; the entire National Civil Protection System will be there. But we also need that commitment - which is probably, indeed certainly, very important - from the public, but a little more of it, because we are in fact facing a new heatwave that could exacerbate the complex situations we have been experiencing over the last few hours and weeks.

And once again, as I always do at these press conferences, I would first like to thank the media for their accurate reporting and for their efforts to combat disinformation. We were just discussing at CECOD today that there are starting to be some attempts to spread misinformation stemming from a lack of understanding as to why it is not possible to rehouse some residents from towns who have been evacuated as a result of these fires. I can understand the anxiety, the distress and the need to return home, but I would also like to ask the public once again to obtain their information from official sources and reputable media outlets, and, of course, to show understanding towards the technical staff. There are no political decisions here; there are political decisions backed by science and by experts, and on that basis, we will indeed be carrying out these rehousing arrangements, which I hope will mean that over the next few hours we will also be able to give some good news to residents in certain areas, mainly in Ávila, but not only there, who can begin the process of being rehoused once again.

And, once again, as I always say - and I won't tire of repeating it throughout this summer - a State pact. A State pact to tackle the climate emergency Because we're already thinking about restoring the forests and the affected areas, and we have to do it. And the Government of Spain will be there alongside the other authorities - the regional, provincial (where applicable) and local authorities. But when we consider the restoration of our woodlands and the reconstruction of the affected towns, we must do so by incorporating a key, cross-cutting factor: the climate emergency and the consequences it has on fires - whether or not they are started deliberately - but which, in any case, intensify exponentially as a result of these high temperatures and low humidity, as well as the atmospheric phenomena that these fires - these major fires - themselves trigger in our forests. I am making this appeal to all public institutions, all political parties and all social groups, because in doing so we will not only be presenting a united front in our response to major disasters such as fires, but we will also be doing so earlier on in terms of prevention and subsequently in terms of reconstruction. And in regard to the reconstruction, let us simply recall that yesterday we held a meeting of the Council of Ministers at which, following a proposal from the Ministry of Home Affairs, led by Fernando Grande-Marlaska, we approved the declaration of the area as one seriously affected by a civil protection emergency, so that we can begin, through the Government Delegations and Sub-delegations, to process all the aid that local residents actually need to recover, at least in material terms, many of the things they have lost. Clearly, from an emotional point of view, they will not be able to recover, but the State will provide all the necessary resources to ensure that they can at least get their daily lives back on track as soon as possible.

A huge thank you to the media, and let's all keep our spirits up during these decisive hours that lie ahead.

(Transcript edited by the State Secretariat for Communication)