Pedro Sánchez has interrupted his vacation and reappeared this Sunday in Ourense to monitor the wave of forest fires that are ravaging Galicia and the Northwest of the peninsula and has announced that he will propose to all parties and institutions the approval of a great State Pact for the climate emergency.

The President of the Executive has recognized that" of course we have to improve" in the response and the"resizing" of all the capacities that the State has to face the fires and, in general, the"worsening of the effects" of the climate emergency, since these phenomena, such as fires or Danas," are increasingly more serious".

This pact is designed" for the mitigation and adaptation to the country's climate emergency" and, to approve it, it calls on public administrations, parliamentary groups, the legislative branch, civil society as a whole, science, business, unions and"ultimately, the country as a whole."

He acknowledges that the first step is to respond to the fires ravaging Spain and assures that "we are going to do it." "The fires will be extinguished and the reconstruction of all affected areas will be addressed," he states, but he also believes that it is necessary to"carry out in-depth reflection, a strategy that anticipates a better, more guaranteeing, safer response for our fellow citizens" in the face of the "acceleration" of the effects of the climate emergency and "that requires a great State pact."

In this regard, the president of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda, acknowledged the need to analyze the causes of"why fires are now especially harmful," "fourth and fifth generation" fires that are virulent and "explosive" and make extinction much more complicated.

After visiting the Ourense fire coordination center, accompanied by the President of the Xunta de Galicia, Alfonso Rueda; the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska; and the Government delegate in Galicia, Pedro Blanco, he appeared before the media, although he was only able to answer an initial question. The appearance had to be interrupted due to the illness of a journalist, who fainted due to the heat in the press room.

Sánchez's visit took place at a time when there were twelve major fires raging in Galicia, all of them in the province of Ourense, and when the wave of fires had already devastated more than 50,000 hectares of forest in the region. During the visit, he had the opportunity to meet with the President of the Xunta (Xunta), who conveyed to him the need for the Government to make more resources available to the regional government"urgently."

Sánchez advocated acting in a "unitary, coordinated and cooperative" manner and responded to Rueda that, from the national civil protection system,"all necessary resources will be provided" to "enclose" and "extinguish as soon as possible" the fires that are particularly devastating the province of Ourense."We are going to do everything and more," he insisted,"making all resources available to the Xunta de Galicia, in this case."

He announced that the Military Emergency Unit (UME) has approved the deployment of 500 more Army personnel to the various fires in the region and has pledged to study the possibility of having enough troops arrive in Galicia to "provide an effective response." The Galician president has requested 200.

The president also recalled that the European civil protection mechanism has been activated, which has meant" probably the largest deployment in the history" of this protocol, with the deployment of resources in Spain from Slovakia, France, Italy, the Netherlands and Germany.

The circumstances in this province are, as Sánchez acknowledged after meeting with those responsible for the fire-fighting, emergency and security services,"critical." Ourense is experiencing its sixth day in emergency situation 2 throughout the province and is the Galician territory that is suffering the most from the impact of the fire "by far," in the words of President Rueda.

ARMY DEPLOYMENT

The Galician leader, like Sánchez, had words for all the people who have been working for days on the extinction tasks and for those affected by the flames, and stressed that they are working"in coordination" between all the institutions in these "very hard" days, but he also wanted to be clear about the homework he has assigned to the President of the Government, transferring the"absolutely essential" resources that are needed in the face of this emergency.

They have already transferred in writing the needs defined by the technical staff working at the coordination center and, before the media, Sánchez insisted on the need to mobilize the Army, a demand that the leader of the national PP, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has also insisted on in recent days.

He specifically mentioned the Galicia VII Brigade, Brilat, based in Pontevedra, whose work he believes could be"fundamental" in "collaborating with the fire-fighting services." This brigade, together with the Northern Third of the Navy's Marine Infantry, has been deployed since the 15th under Operation Sentinel Gallega, focused on fire prevention. Although the deployment of 35 patrols across the four Galician provinces is planned, they have finally been reinforced to 47, with a total of 200 soldiers.

Operation Sentinel is merely preventative, but Rueda is asking for the effective"mobilization" of the Armed Forces for tasks such as, for example, the use of shovels in more remote areas to create firebreaks and also to assist the firefighting services. Rueda is confident that his"logical" request can be met "as quickly as possible."

HELP FOR THOSE AFFECTED

The Galician president also focused on the urgency of starting to think about reconstruction, with aid, once the fires are extinguished, for those people who"have lost their properties, their crops, their industries." He announced that his administration will act "quickly" and that this Monday the 18th there will be a first meeting with the technicians who are preparing the aid orders so that they can be launched "immediately," and he asks Sánchez to also comply with the same "efficiency."

Pedro Sánchez committed "all resources" to "tackling the task of reconstruction." He invoked the experience of the Valencia DANA, during which the Government Delegation and the Ministry of Territorial Policy innovated and streamlined the management of aid in a"very effective and efficient manner."

Both leaders showed agreement when it came to conveying the need to investigate and arrest those responsible for these fires, which are mostly arson, and which are starting"in the places where they can cause the most damage and where they make it most difficult for the firefighting services." They are asking that "the full weight of the law fall on them."