SAN CIPRIAN DE SANABRIA, Spain, Aug 22, 2025 (AFP) - As helicopters dump 
water over burning ridges and smoke billows across the mountains of northern 
Spain, residents from wildfire-stricken areas say they feel abandoned by the 
politicians meant to protect them.

A blaze "swept through those mountains, across those fresh, green valleys and 
they didn't stop it?" said Jose Fernandez, 85.

He was speaking from an emergency shelter in Benavente where he took refuge 
after fleeing his nearby village, Vigo de Sanabria.

While praising the care he received at the shelter, run by the Red Cross, he 
gave the authorities "a zero" for their handling of the disaster.

Blazes that swept across Spain this month have killed four people and ravaged 
over 350,000 hectares (865,000 acres) over two weeks, according to the 
European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).

Three of those deaths were in the region of Castile and Leon, where Vigo de 
Sanabria is located, as well as a large part of the land consumed by the 
fires.

And as happened after last year's deadly floods in the eastern region of 
Valencia, the fires have fuelled accusations that politicians mishandled the 
crisis.

"They committed a huge negligence," said 65-year-old Jose Puente, forced to 
flee his home in the village of San Ciprian de Sanabria.

The authorities were "a bit careless, a bit arrogant", and underestimated how 
quickly the fire could shift, he added. He, too, had taken refuge at the 
Benavente shelter.

"They thought it was solved, and suddenly it turned into hell," said Puente.

-'Left in God's hands' -
Both men are from villages in the Sanabria lake area, a popular summer 
destination known for its greenery and traditional stone houses, now marred 
by scorched vegetation from wildfires.

Spain's decentralised system leaves regional governments in charge of 
disaster response, though they can ask the central government for help.

The regions hit hard by the wildfires -- Castile and Leon, Extremadura, and 
Galicia -- are all governed by the conservative Popular Party (PP), which 
also ruled Valencia.

The PP, Spain's main opposition party, accuses Socialist Prime Minister Pedro 
Sanchez of having withheld aid to damage conservative-run regions.

The government has hit back, accusing the PP of having underfunded public 
services needed face such emergencies. They argue that these regions refused 
to take the climate change which fuelled the wildfires seriously.

The wildfires have also thrown a spotlight on long-term trends that have left 
the countryside vulnerable.

Castile and Leon suffers from decades of rural depopulation, an ageing 
population -- and the decline of farming and livestock grazing, both of which 
once help keep forests clear of tinder.

Spending on fire prevention -- by the state and the regions -- has dropped by 
half since 2009, according to study by daily newspaper ABC, with the steepest 
reductions in the regions hit hardest by the flames this year.

"Everything has been left in God's hands," said Fernandez, expressing a 
widely held view by locals hit by the fires.

- 'Life and death' -
Spain's environmental prosecutor has ordered officials to check whether 
municipalities affected by wildfires complied with their legal obligation to 
adopt prevention plans.

In both Castile and Leon and Galicia, protesters -- some holding signs 
reading "Never Again" and "More prevention" -- have taken to the streets in 
recent days calling for stronger action from local officials.

The head of the regional government of Castile and Leon, the Popular Party's 
Alfonso Fernandez Manueco, has come under the most scrutiny.

Under his watch in 2022, the region suffered devastating wildfires in Sierra 
de la Culebra that ravaged over 65,000 hectares.

He has defended the response this year, citing "exceptional" conditions, 
including an intense heatwave. He has denied reports that inexperienced, 
last-minute hires were sent to fight the fires.

Jorge de Dios, spokesman for the region's union for environmental agents 
APAMCYL who has been on the front line fighting the fires in recent days, 
criticised working conditions.

Most of the region's firefighting force "only works four months a year", 
during the summer, he told AFP.

Many are students or seasonal workers who participate in "two, three, four 
campaigns" before leaving.

"We are never going to have veterans," he said, adding that what was needed 
were experienced firefighters capable of handling "situations that are 
clearly life or death".