Austerity In Action: Cuts Of Up To 90% In Firefighting Crews In Spain During Summer Of Deadly Fires

[hatrack]

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As Spain experiences its worst year of wildfires for almost 20 years, cuts in rural firefighting teams are being blamed for the loss of lives and landscapes.

In one of the most dramatic episodes, Pascal Couton, a disabled French man, and his 14-year-old daughter, Océane, died trying to jump into the sea when dozens of people abandoned their cars to escape a blaze that swept across a cliff-top road in Girona, north-eastern Spain.

"Two of my colleagues died two weeks ago," said Robert Rubio, a forester, ecologist and professional firefighter from Andilla, 12 miles from Alcublas. The men, a rural firefighter and a forestry agent, were caught by a fire in Torremanzanas, further south. This summer, 1,424 sq km (550 sq miles) of land have burned – an area larger than Berkshire, Hong Kong or Los Angeles – as Spaniards get used to the sight of firefighting helicopters and aircraft bombarding burning forests and mountainsides with water.

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Rubio said cuts began last year, when the Valencia regional government hired only a tenth of the number of temporary local summer firefighters compared with previous years – though officials say this year the region has lost only 200 of the 11,700 working to limit wildfires in 2011. Regional governments in north-eastern Catalonia and north-western Galicia, meanwhile, are spending 20% less than two years ago.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/22/cuts-blamed-deaths-spanish-wildfires

[newfie11]

1. no wonder people are dying in fires in Spain

I had no idea about this cutback.