Between yesterday's image of Pedro Sánchez in Orense visiting the Operational Coordination Centre against the fires and those that arrived the previous Sunday from the natural area of Las Médulas (León) and Molezuelas de la Carballeda (Zamora), there are seven days of suffering, destruction and alert in the worst week of forest fires in Spain in many years. A time in which the President of the Government, the King and some regional presidents have appeared late - because they are on holiday - or have been almost absent, despite the magnitude of the crisis.

It wasn't until yesterday, Sunday, that the Prime Minister finally cut short his summer break in Lanzarote to visit and learn firsthand about the fight against the fires in two of the autonomous communities that are suffering the most distress: Galicia and Castilla y León. Before that, on Saturday, he was seen presiding over the crisis committee that the Government launched last Tuesday via video call, when it was already clear that the emergency situation was very serious. This means that Sánchez didn't participate in this committee until the fifth day of the meeting. This was when, among other sad milestones, the following had already been certified: three deaths from the fire (a resident and two volunteers), the most devastating fire in the history of Spain (specifically, that of Molezuelas de la Carballeda), and the largest in the history of Galicia (that of Chandrexa, Orense).

With all eyes on him, Sánchez reappeared first in Orense and then in León, accompanied by the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, and he used climate change as a shield to justify the virulence of the crisis, rather than the means of extinguishing it. He announced that he will propose to the political parties and institutions a State Pact for mitigation and adaptation to the climate emergency, with which to improve the administrations' response capacity to the fires; and that he will now provide the necessary resources.

Yesterday was also the day the King reappeared, visiting the headquarters of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) in Torrejón (Madrid). This week it has emerged that Felipe VI has been calling regional presidents who were suffering from fires since Tuesday. Sánchez did the same on Friday.

These have been, for days, the milestones of a crisis that has caught government officials on vacation and has sparked criticism about their slowness to react and reappear.

SUNDAY 10TH

Fires are back in the headlines, especially in El Bierzo, with a blaze in the beloved natural area of Las Médulas. Hundreds of residents are evacuated, and the UME (Mechanical Emergency Unit) is mobilized. There is also talk of the flames threatening the Zamora town of Molezuelas de la Carballeda. Castilla y León addressed these cases on Saturday with its Cecopi (coordination center), but the regional president, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, will not interrupt his vacation until Monday.

MONDAY 11TH

Transport Minister Óscar Puente takes to social media to denounce the delays shown by regional leaders in leaving their vacations to address the fires in their communities. The Socialist calls Mañueco a scoundrel for not returning from Cádiz until Monday and the Environment Minister, Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones, for partying in Gijón. Meanwhile, a very serious fire breaks out in Tarifa (Cádiz), which the minister also uses to attack the Andalusian president, Juanma Moreno, for not cutting short his vacation, and also in Tres Cantos (Madrid).

TUESDAY 12

This morning, the situation due to the multiple fires is so difficult that the Ministry of the Interior declared the Pre-emergency Phase and the State Committee for Coordination and Management of the State Emergency Plan (CECOD) began meeting. The Government remains vigilant, leaving management in the hands of the autonomous communities and limiting itself to offering personnel and aircraft resources to the regions that request them. In Madrid, the first death from the crisis is reported while the extinguishing work continues. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, on vacation, reacts on social media, but the PSOE, unlike Puente, avoids confrontation. The King begins calling the affected regional presidents.

Wednesday the 13th

The leader of the People's Party (PP), Alberto Núñez Feijóo, visits a forward command post in Galicia and demands that the government provide more resources and get ahead of the situation. He takes the initiative and demands that Sánchez request assistance from the European Union. A few hours later, the Ministry of the Interior announces that it has done so and that France will send two tanker planes. Days later, two more Italian planes will arrive. A volunteer dies in the fire in Molezuelas de Carballeda, the second fatality of this tragic week.

THURSDAY 14TH

Spain continues to be shocked by the images of the multiple fires, and alerts are being raised, especially in Orense, Zamora, and León. A second volunteer dies in Molezuelas de la Carballeda, making this fire the largest in Spanish history. Regional presidents complain that Sánchez hasn't even called them, and politics is entangled with the still-lingering controversial tweets from Óscar Puente and the question of whether or not there has been a reduction in air resources this year due to the lack of a budget. This is something the government denies despite the PP's questioning. Ayuso appears two days later in the devastated area of Tres Cantos, and the central government is at pains to promote the aid (military and resources) it is providing in the face of the growing sense that the crisis is spiraling out of control.

FRIDAY 15TH

Precisely because of this outpouring of power, Feijóo—who is making his second visit to the fires—is calling for the Army's intervention, citing a national crisis. Sánchez, who remains in Lanzarote, is making his first round of calls to the presidents late in the day.

SATURDAY 16TH

Sánchez appears involved in the crisis for the first time. He participates in the emergency committee, and Moncloa announces that he will visit the affected areas on Sunday and will visit more places during the new week. Defense Minister Margarita Robles also enters the scene with a visit to Orense and Zamora. On Sunday, she will be at the EMU with the King.