Devastating blazes raging around Madrid, Ávila, Toledo and Castellón have displaced more than 100,000 people, exposed gaps in firefighting capacity and reopened a familiar feud between the left and the right.
Aitor Hernández-Morales
“This is a clear example of what the underfunding of public services and precariousness mean when critical moments arrive,” Bergerot wrote on X, pointing out firefighters were asking for “basic materials like the vehicles to reach the areas that are burning and firefighting gear with which to work safely.”
Avoiding Mazón’s mistake
Ayuso’s decision to seek national support to address the crisis contrasts sharply with that taken by another People’s Party leader a year and a half ago.
After massive floods hit the Spanish region of Valencia in October 2024, center-right regional President Carlos Mazón declined to request Sánchez’s government declare a national emergency, arguing the regional authorities could manage the response. A petition to deploy military personnel in the devastated region was only made several days after the unprecedented disaster in which 237 people died.
Mazón’s botched handling of the Valencia floods became a major embarrassment for the People’s Party and deeply damaged his political standing and eventually led to his departure from office. But keen to avoid being linked to a similar debacle, Ayuso has moved swiftly to place the crisis response operations under the control of the national government and brushed off criticism of her decision, insisting “coordination is good and absolutely necessary.”
In a bid to downplay the move, she also compared her decision to hand over the disaster response coordination to the national authorities to the Spanish government’s activation of the EU’s Civil Protection Mechanism. Although the instrument helps organize emergency aid between the bloc’s members, it does not assume control of the affected country’s emergency response.
Although the collaboration between national and regional authorities appears to be smooth, the political tensions between Ayuso and Sánchez were evident on Saturday, when the two coincided at a press conference and only exchanged a brief handshake.
Despite that, the teamwork was lauded by Spain’s King Felipe VI on Sunday, who on Sunday celebrated the “exemplary coordination” between the different administrations and said “united we can face any risk.”
