You may or may not know but Valencia city subhurbs have been suffering devastating fires for the last few days. We live where the northern fire is.

Got to give it to the bomberos for their bravery and stamina in such circumstances.

The fires are not out....massive destruction everywhere.

......and do you know what Rajoy was doing?

Watching the football.

Our beautiful green campo in many areas has mostly gone.....extra help efforts are apparently madrid volunteers.

No sign of an end yet...and no sign of extra help!

This is a disgrace.

while I agree with all you say, (especially the Rajoy bit).......... it's not just in our area

I saw on the news this morning that atm the total area of Spain which is on fire is an area the size of the province of Ciudad Real - apparently roughly 1/20 of the country

Yes the country is really suffering at the moment and the recent high temps can only have helped.

Guess Im just looking closer to home.

I have genuinely been afraid for the safety of people we know in our area including dds class friends.

you must be

we were in the Jalon valley yesterday & looking around we were reminded of the many fires there ave been there over the years - you can still see damage from one which happened about 12 years ago

Have you any idea how many people are involved at the moment in fighting this fire?

They have 40 planes in the air - that must be almost all of the available Spanish firefighting planes.

There are 1800 people on the ground dealing with it. 52 fire trucks (I didn't realise they had that many in Spain).

On top of that they have sent in 900 troops.

Although it is an absolute disaster I think the support that has been provided is hardly "a disgrace" - it's an example of just what they can pull together when they need to.

Incidentally the latest news is that it is becoming under control.

There is the most amazing picture of a helicopter dumping its water bucket in the papers today. http://goo.gl/ADyrY

I didnt say the emergency services were a disgrace. They are all being hailed heroes by all of us.

My disgrace lies with the lack of empathy from Rajoy and his merry men.While he went off to watch the football the countryside surrounding us was disappearing.These fires are larger than the colorado fires and Obama managed to get there for support.

Luckily no one has died so far.

But many thanks to all the emergency services...please dont quote me otherwise.

Much as Rajoy seems to enjoy acting the role of a buffoon, I can't see that he could have helped by being in the fire area yesterday - in fact he may have been a hindrance.
I'm sure that at some point he will praise the fire-fighters (if he hasn't already).

Yes probably just getting carried away.Its quite emotional when you are living around it.

The fires around us appear to be growing again and everyone is wondering where the water bombers are.

Just heard that a helicopter dropping water has crashed into a reservoir and the pilot is being looked for.

Reports that one of the fires is now out ...

http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news...le_35173.shtml

These reports are wrong.

I see a pilot of a helicopter fighting the fires has died.
http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1527...tes-de-pallas/

Bloody hell,this has got me worried.
Have any homes been taken out ?
Hope I still have a house to live in when I get back.
Any maps been published in the media showing the affected areas ?

As Paintermujer said - a disgrace.

If Rajoy had been there it wouldn't have happened would it?

These guys risk their lives all the time and sometimes tragically lose their lives.

In my opinion they are a most brilliant operation and living in the campo I feel reassured that they are there when we need them which is unfortunately too often.

They are an amazing operation across the whole of Spain and should be applauded for that.

Found some reports relating to two affected areas, Cortes de Pallas and Andilla, fairly remote spots, Cortes especially.
Those places are a fair way from the city and the main suburbs, though not quite so far from my place, so I hope they're not spreading to rapidly eastwards with what appears to be the prevailing wind at present