The opposition in Andalusia chose to keep a low profile during the most tragic and uncertain moments of the Los Gallardos (Almería) fire, the worst in the community, with 13 deaths and 7,000 hectares burned, while the political noise was handled by ministers and leaders of the national PP. “All together,” demanded the spokesperson of Adelante Andalucía, José Ignacio García. But once the flames were controlled, the truce ended and all the left-wing Andalusian parties have requested the appearance of the president of the Junta, Juan Manuel Moreno, to explain the management of the fire and the decisions that have been made, as well as the incomplete staffing of firefighters in some Infoca crews, denounced by the unions. Beyond the criteria that guided those orders, the paradox of the firm defense of the need to strengthen the fight against climate change that the popular baron has wielded in all recent appearances, with his government pact with Vox, in which the 2030 Agenda or the Green Deal are questioned, as also emphasized by the leaders of the progressive parties, has not gone unnoticed.
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“There are many explanations that the Andalusian government must give, starting with the Summer Plan [of Infoca], the available resources, the prevention protocols, and the decisions made before and during the fire,” said Antonio Maíllo, spokesperson for Por Andalucía, the first group to register the extraordinary request for Moreno’s appearance in the Andalusian Parliament. For José Ignacio García, from Adelante Andalucía, these explanations should focus on why the ES-Alert was not sent — “to know if it should have been sent and if sending it would have saved lives or not” —; whether all neighbors were really warned, echoing testimonies from residents and victims’ families who say they received no instructions; the origin of the fire and “its responsible party”; and the staffing of firefighters who participated in the extinction tasks. “The government surely does not expect that with 13 people dead in a fire in Andalusia there will be no debate and no explanations demanded, because there are unresolved questions about the Almería fire and we demand a clear, immediate response from the highest authority of the Junta de Andalucía.”
The secretary general of the Andalusian socialists, María Jesús Montero, has been the most restrained regarding the substance of the explanations the president of the Junta should give. “All elements related to the causes and the responses to that situation must be examined calmly, with all the records we have of all warnings and communications and, therefore, with data and evidence. Speculation must be avoided, and hearsay must be avoided,” she said from the advanced command post in Turra, where she accompanied Pedro Sánchez during his visit to the affected area.
Montero, as the prime minister had just done and as she herself has tweeted in recent days, defended collaboration between administrations and considers that the popular baron must “lay out the entire timeline of actions taken since the first smoke column appeared and later also to see how in the future the appearance and spread of fires of this nature can be better prevented.”
In the various public appearances the president of the Junta has had in recent days — last Friday, this Sunday to report that the fire had stabilized, and this Monday alongside the prime minister —, besides touching on some of the issues emphasized this morning by the leaders of the Andalusian left-wing coalitions, he stressed how the virulence of this fire, which advanced up to 100 meters per minute, was a consequence of climate change. “Climate change is affecting in a very, very, very important way, and we are seeing it in a climate disorder with situations that are practically unknown, very exceptional, and increasingly explosive,” he said this morning.
Since arriving at San Telmo, Moreno has not shied away from talking about the pressure Andalusia is under as a result of global warming, especially regarding drought. He has defended the importance of decarbonization and the commitment to renewables even at the various United Nations climate summits he has always attended. He himself made the “green revolution” one of the pillars of his first term, also as a way to distance himself from the more reactionary wing of his own party. However, that environmental defense has been called into question after the government pact with Vox, a party that denies the impact of climate change. The agreement includes the elimination of regional taxes related to plastic bags, emissions, and discharges, or the non-application of the 2030 Agenda in anything that could harm the productive and primary sector.
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The opposition leaders have not missed the opportunity to draw attention to this new political contortionism that Moreno is trying to face to maintain, on the one hand, that he remains faithful to his principles, and at the same time defend his pact with the far right. “It strikes me that we talk about climate change when an agreement that denies it has just been signed,” Montero emphasized, considering that document implies “the reversal of some of the measures that allow us to combat climatic phenomena and issues of this type.” “Are they going to continue deepening climate denial?” García asked.
Lack of resources in Infoca
The Andalusian nationalist leader and Maíllo have also emphasized the importance of Moreno giving explanations about the staffing of the Infoca Summer Plan. Since the season began, which was brought forward to May 15, unions have warned that the crews and the Reinforcement Brigades against Fires of the Autonomous Community (BRICA) did not have the necessary personnel or that many vehicles could not be mobilized because two drivers are needed and many do not have the reinforcement. These shortcomings were denounced in the Villanueva de los Castillejos (Huelva) fire, which last June burned more than 5,000 hectares. “On this occasion, the BRICA of Granada [which was mobilized in Los Gallardos] was complete, but there were crews, which must be made up of seven people, where there were only three firefighters,” explains Emilio Del Pino, Infoca firefighter and UGT coordinator at the Andalusian Emergency Agency (EMA), who was part of one of the BRICA Granada brigades that first positioned on the ground in the Los Gallardos fire.
Each BRICA brigade has 11 firefighters. Granada’s is made up of four units, now complete, but in June it was not. “Seville’s, which should have 44 members, still does not have full staffing and we are in mid-July,” Del Pino indicates. The fire trucks used to fight the flames in Almería could not be used 24 hours “because they did not have available crews,” says the firefighter, about a reality that García also echoed this morning.
The Junta has allocated this year 271 million euros (5% more than last year) to the Infoca plan, which has 4,700 professionals under the direction of the EMA (3,615 directly dependent on that agency, 253 workers from external companies, and 797 dependent on the Ministry of Environment, according to the order of June 11 that approves the 2026 Infoca plan resource catalog).
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