Overview
- The Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas published the Protection Civil survey on Wednesday showing 53.2% of respondents say they have low or no knowledge of how to act in a forest fire, based on 6,038 interviews.
- The poll reports 15.3% of citizens were directly affected by 2026 fires and many felt confusion or fear during incidents, with 37.1% saying they reacted with disquiet and 27.4% reporting fear.
- Nearly all respondents (96.6%) view mobile emergency alerts as useful, and about 80% expect the number of fires to rise in coming years.
- A clear majority favors prevention over suppression (58.5%), wants prevention and firefighting services kept public (82.3%), and calls for more forest cleaning, pruning and resources to regional services.
- Respondents link rising fires to poor forest management, rural depopulation and climate change and the survey heightens pressure on autonomous communities to increase prevention funding, improve workforce conditions and expand early-warning systems.