Spain's wildfire pact deadlocked as experts warn 'our future depends on it' and state aerial fleet shrinks 38%

A plea for unity

As flames consumed more than 67,000 hectares in Madrid this July and continued to burn in La Vall d'Uixó, Valencia, conservation groups and scientists renewed their call for a state-level political agreement on wildfires. WWF Spain's conservation coordinator, Luis Suárez, said the moment demands action that transcends party lines.

No es cuestión de ser de derechas o de izquierdas, nuestro futuro depende de ese acuerdo.

Suárez noted that experts, scientists and those who know fires well agree on roughly 95% of the measures that must be adopted. The obstacle, he argued, is not a lack of technical consensus but the failure of administrations to assume responsibility and begin work.

Two competing visions

The central government, led by Pedro Sánchez, wants a Pacto de Estado against the climate emergency that would embed wildfire prevention within a broader framework of forest management, rural resilience, agricultural contributions and permanent technical resources. Sánchez first presented the proposal nearly a year ago, in mid-2025. The opposition Partido Popular, under Alberto Núñez Feijóo, has countered with a plan of 50 measures focused specifically on wildfires, rejecting the wider climate-emergency label.

An editorial in La Vanguardia observed that the two documents contain important coincidences on the main actions required, yet the chances of a political agreement appear remote. The editorial stressed that the same spirit of coordination seen among public administrations, forest brigades, military and police during this summer's fires should now be applied to prevention policy.

A shrinking state fleet

While the political debate continues, La Razón reported that the state's aerial firefighting capacity has been cut by more than a third since 2018. Data from the Ministry for Ecological Transition (MITECO) show that the total water-discharge capacity of state aerial assets fell from 207,400 litres in 2018 to 128,400 litres in 2026, a reduction of 38.1%. The fleet shrank from 65 to 56 aircraft, losing eight amphibious planes of 5,500 litres and seven heavy Kamov helicopters of 4,500 litres, replaced by smaller units.

Over the same period, Spain's autonomous communities collectively increased their aerial capacity by 25.2%, adding 43 aircraft and 64,300 litres of discharge capacity. The contrast has sharpened criticism that the central government is not matching its climate rhetoric with operational resources.

Fires that outpace human control

The La Vanguardia editorial noted that the fires of this summer belong to a new generation that scientists attribute to climate change, burning with a virulence that leaves them beyond human extinction capacity. It pointed out that these fires have occurred precisely in autonomous communities governed by the PP with the support of Vox, a party that denies climate change.

A letter published in EL PAÍS added a further warning: in the two to three years after a large fire, the loss of vegetation and soil alteration reduce the land's ability to absorb rainwater, sharply increasing the risk of flash floods, mudslides and sediment damage to homes, roads, bridges and farms. The phenomenon is well known in hydraulic engineering and forest management but rarely receives public attention.

What comes next

Suárez cautioned that even if action had been insufficient since last year, the problem cannot be solved overnight with a single package of measures. He stressed that society must accept that for a number of years it will pay very serious consequences stemming from the current situation. The immediate question is whether the two main parties can bridge their framing dispute and begin work on the 95% of measures on which experts already agree.