The Principality of Asturias records 91 forest fires at this time, 30 fewer, than there were at 10:30 a.m. The council of Valdés continues to concentrate the actions of extinction and assistance, as reported by the regional government.
Firefighters from the Principality’s Emergency Service (SEPA) from various parks, members of the Military Emergency Unit, the BRIF from Tineo and Tabuyo, the latter displaced from León, and a Brigade of Preventive Work from the MITECO. The two FOCA seaplanes of the ministry and a SEPA Firefighters helicopter have also been activated for the area.
Emergencies The population is reminded that the following communication routes are cut off: As-14 from Montefurado to Berducedo.
As-351 from Almuña to Merás; AS-219 in Naraval; AS-366 Brieves to Meras. Cadavedo railway traffic.
The N-632 between Ballota and Barcia (Valdés) and the National 634 between kilometers 492 to 455 between Trevías and Canero have been opened to traffic.
Volunteers from the Tineo Civil Protection group will go to the Naraval area (Tineo), where there are telephone communication problems, due to the fact that a repeater has been burned, to find out first-hand about the possible needs of these neighbors.
“It is increasingly clear that they are arson”
The Government Delegate in Asturias, Delia Losa, has referred this Friday to the wave of forest fires that Asturias is suffering these days. “It is increasingly clear that they are fires caused by their type,” she said, based on the opinion of experts.
Losa has reported that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has taken an interest in the situation and has spoken with the President of the Principality, Adrián Barbón, to make all the necessary means available. “The situation continues to be dramatic,” Losa lamented.
The Government Delegate has confirmed that the road connection with Galicia is still cut off at the height of Cadavedo, both the A-8 and the national highway. “Traffic is measuring every moment how the circumstances evolve because right now what there is is a lot of smoke and there is a danger of an accident,” she commented.
Pedro Sánchez: “They will not go unpunished”
The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has assured that there is “a guarantee” that if the intention of the fires that are burning the Principality of Asturias is confirmed, “of course, they will not go unpunished.”
From China, where he has traveled to meet with the President of the People’s Republic, Xi Xiping, Sánchez has offered a press conference that began with a message of “solidarity with Asturias”.
Although he had issued a message of “solidarity with the affected families” through his account on the social network Twitter in the early hours of the morning and in which he thanked “those who fight against the fire” for their work, at the press conference With the media, Sánchez has specified that this Friday he has spoken with the President of the Principality of Asturias, Adrián Barbón, to convey to him, precisely his message of solidarity in the face of the fires that are being registered in the territory.
In addition, it has guaranteed the support of the Government of Spain to “all those who are fighting these terrible fires”, as well as a “guarantee” that if intentionality is confirmed as the origin of the accidents, they will not go unpunished.
More than 120 fires are active in the region that have forced the eviction of 375 people. At this time, the Superior Prosecutor’s Office in Asturias has recorded all the information available on the forest fires and has transferred it to the Prosecutor for the Environment in the Principality, María Esperanza González, so that she can initiate investigation proceedings with the aim of clarifying the causes of the same and act against the possible perpetrators, in the cases in which they are intentional fires.
For its part, in Cantabria a high number of fires is also being registered, which at this time accounts for 28 active forest fires, ten less than in the early hours of this Friday.