Overview

• Fires continue to burn across Ourense province, scorching over 40,000 hectares as of August 16.
• The community-managed Bosque de Ridimoas suffered heavy damage to its pine stands, although its lower, wetter sections appear to have resisted flames.
• With regional firefighting assets stretched to minimal levels, residents and volunteer brigades have improvised defenses using tractors with water tanks, hand tools and community wells.
• Early reports point to multiple ignition points and witness accounts of gunfire at the first outbreaks, raising suspicions of deliberate arson that authorities have yet to confirm.
• Neighbors and the Bosque de Ridimoas association are urgently calling on municipal and regional authorities to send aerial support, heavy equipment and personnel to bolster suppression efforts.