The Government of Castilla-La Mancha highlighted the work and preventive actions it is carrying out to mitigate the future effects of possible forest fires and which, as the Minister of Sustainable Development pointed out, “do not only include forestry work or the improvement of infrastructure, such as the control bases or heliports that we regularly carry out, to name a few examples, but also the accesses that facilitate the extinction of fires to the Infocam devices and which, in the vast majority of situations, are via forest roads.
This was stated by Mercedes Gómez during her visit to maintenance and adaptation works of various roads for the prevention of forest fires in the region of La Jara, which are included in the regional plan for the adaptation of forest roads to improve access for the prevention and extinction of fires in which the Community Council has mobilized funds from the EAFRD and in collaboration with the provincial government municipalities, “a total of 14 million euros with the aim of improving these roads, which are fundamental.”
In this regard, he indicated that with these provisions “we facilitate actions against fires and forestry work, we improve communications between municipalities and we promote agricultural and livestock work, improving the infrastructure widely used by those who visit our natural environment.”
In total, these improvements have an impact on approximately 100 forest paths in the five provinces of Castile-La Mancha. They cover more than 700 kilometers, “and we have already practically finished them, since the degree of execution, to date, is 96 percent,” said Gómez.
The head of Sustainable Development made these statements during her visit to the improvement works of different forest roads in the municipality of Espinoso del Rey (Toledo), which also benefit neighboring towns such as Robledo del Mazo or Los Navalucillos.
As Gómez specified, “a total of 2.2 million euros have been invested throughout the Jara region for 71 kilometers of roads. Specifically, in Espinoso del Rey, where we are today, and in neighboring municipalities, work is underway on four roads with a total length of 35 km and a budget of 1.2 million euros.
He was referring, among other things, to the works of adaptation of the road that goes from Espinoso del Rey to Robledillo, in the municipalities of Espinoso del Rey and Robledo del Mazo of 8.5 kilometers, “where 712,847.20 euros have been invested mainly to proceed with the improvement of its coating.
To improve the Valdemaillo road, 2.2 kilometers, also in Espinoso del Rey, 85,246 euros were allocated to the construction of works for the passage of water and the improvement of the road surface; To the adaptations carried out on the roads of Risco Ñaña, 10.6 kilometers, in the areas of Espinoso and Los Navalucillos, 150,071 euros were allocated for similar actions.
A total of 251,793 euros have been allocated for 14 kilometres of work on the Espinoso to El Mazo road, in the municipalities of Espinoso del Rey, Torrecilla de La Jara and Los Navalucillos. Or those of the Robledo del Mazo ring road, 0.8 kilometres long, for which 197,157.70 euros have been allocated for the improvement of the surface and widening of the current road.
All these actions, as he pointed out, mainly in the Jara region, are part of “those that we are carrying out throughout the province of Toledo to repair more than 130 kilometers of 23 roads with an investment of 4.4 million euros.
Mercedes Gómez, accompanied by the delegate of the Talavera Board of Directors, David Gómez; the Sustainable Development delegate in Toledo, Montserrat Muro; and the mayor of Espinoso del Rey, María del Pilar Ahijado; He was then transferred to the checkpoint in the town of Espinoso del Rey.
There he had the opportunity to speak with the INFOCAM professionals who work at this base, whom he “thanked for their work in the protection and conservation of the natural environment of Castilla-La Mancha.”
In this context, he stressed that although these days “we are enjoying more favourable temperatures, we must not relax and we must continue to be vigilant because any precaution is insufficient in the face of forest fires.”
In addition, the advisor updated the data of the forest fire campaign. “Until the beginning of September, we suffered a total of 692 fires. Fortunately, in 89 percent of cases, we managed to control them, leaving them in their tracks,” he said.
Regarding the hectares affected throughout the region, provisionally and with files still to be closed, it was reported that “to date, 6,118 hectares of forest massif and 1,900 hectares of non-forest vegetation have been affected.”
And regarding the rest of the campaign in the province of Toledo, he indicated that a total of 251 fires occurred, of which 85 percent were extinguished in the nascent phase, while the hectares affected were 2,651 hectares of forest massif and 854 hectares of non-forest vegetation.
