🔗 Share this article Spain assesses the expense of disastrous wildfire season A water bomber releases water on a ongoing wildfire José Antonio Bruña is positioned on a slope near the small village of a rural settlement. He references the very spot where an electrical storm struck a few periods before, causing a wildfire with severe consequences. "This season has been a nightmare for me on a personal level, but also for regional agriculturists and the whole community in the village," he explains. "At 47 years old and I've never experienced a fire that violent." Ultimately consuming over 20,000 square meters of land and leading to a multitude of people to be evacuated from communities in this rural corner of north-western Spain. But it was just one among many vast fires which have ravaged Spain this summer, destroying 0.8% of the country's surface area. The worst-hit zones were here in the western north, including the regions of a autonomous community and another community, along with the western region of a bordering zone. Effects on Beekeeping Apiculture, which is an important industry in non-urban the northwestern territories, was one of the key casualties of the summer. Luckily, the beekeeper's apiaries are unharmed, because the fire ceased just a short distance away from the plots where he keeps them. "I project that this year I'm going to lose 50% of my honey output, at the very least, because of the fires, and the subsequent year the same, or even more severe," the apiarist says. The lack of physical damage to his hives means he is ineligible for insurance. He is contemplating moving many of them to other locations, in the hope of improving the bees' prospects of survival and reducing his future losses. José Antonio Bruña says his bees will now produce less honey for a number of years Cattle Ranchers Also Impacted Numerous livestock farmers have also been obliged to move their animals in recent weeks, both to evade fires and to make certain they can access unburned pasture. "The situation was dire for farmers [this summer], it was one fire after another," says a cattle farmer from a border village. He suffered the death of around 30 cattle this summer, most recently having to euthanize 11 animals which had experienced severe burns. "The situation has had a big economic impact, but the biggest impact of all is that we can't sleep at night," he comments. "It is a constant anxiety." Although farmers anticipate receive insurance payouts, he suspects there will be a ripple cost. "They may pay us, but next year, rather than costing us, for example, €5,000, insurance costs will amount to €10,000 or €15,000," he warns. "As insurance companies don't want to lose money." Economic Impact and Travel Industry Declines A farming organization assessed in August that the industry had incurred damages worth at least €600m. The biggest costs have been burned fields and properties and losses of animals. A further main economic casualty of this summer's fires has been tourism, which constitutes 13% of Spanish GDP. Even if most of the beach destinations which are tourism avoided fires this summer, the southerly province of Cádiz was an exception. Additionally this summer's main wildfire hotspots, in the west and north-west, have cultivated rural tourism in the past few years. The largest glacial lake, the greatest glacial reservoir in the Iberian peninsula, is a major local draw. Yet the expansion of the fire that began in Porto de Sanabria in mid-August caused it to be closed. "In August, this area was at maximum occupancy in terms of tourism," says the mayor. "And then, on 18 August, it plummeted to 10% of capacity." Among visitors this was disruptive. But for many locals it meant financial disaster. "The administration has said it will pay me €5,500," he says, sarcastically. "They are going to have to come up with some other kind of reimbursement because I was opposed to close, they compelled me to." Larger Societal Impact The past few months has highlighted the well-known schism between city and countryside Spain. Years of movement from rural areas to metropolises means that 90% of the Spanish population now resides in just 30% of its country. The remainder has become known as depopulated Spain, where a thin population has often complained about a absence of infrastructure. The fires, which have been particularly difficult to manage this year, only worsen that dissatisfaction. "It is challenging as it is to survive because of the cost of animal feed and fuel – every day it's more challenging for farmers to make ends meet," he says. "And then on top that, this takes place."