While the fire in the Las Hurdes region that started last Monday is still active and with level 2 of danger, having already burned 4,100 hectares between both provinces (Cáceres and Salamanca) and having spread the flames to the province of Salamanca, the Uncertainty has settled in the tourism sector in the area, one of the essential engines of economic development in this region of Extremadura.
Thus, the Las Hurdes Tourism Association (Athur) has sent a message of “tranquility” to tourists who have reservations in the area or have considered visiting the destination in the coming days, since the region “has 500 square kilometers of extension”. It so happens that, when the dimensions of the fire are known, numerous reservations are being canceled in Las Hurdes, not only for the next few days, but also even those that were closed for the month of August.
This group explains that the fire has caused the preventive transfer of six farmhouses from Las Hurdes, but this region is made up of 44 in total, which “continue to offer what tourists are looking for on these dates”, such as virgin nature, meanders, waterfalls, architecture , mysteries and legends.
To this is added 26 natural pools “with crystal clear and warm waters for bathing”, according to its president, Ignacio Paredes.
Athur indicates that at the moment they only have evidence of a single accommodation, of the more than 1,500 beds available, “that has had to relocate its clients for prevention.”
For all these reasons, and in the face of the fire declared in the municipality of Ladrillar in this region, the Las Hurdes Tourism Association appeals that “now is the time for solidarity to emerge and for tourists” to help them with their overnight stays to that this fire “does not become the economic ruin of a sector that depends 50 percent of its income on the summer season,” he says.
On the other hand, the president of the Tourism Association of the North of Extremadura (Aturnex), Ignacio Lozano, has offered to accommodate at no cost in his apartments in the Sierra de Gata those tourists or travelers who have had to be evicted or may find themselves in this situation in the coming days.
“In these difficult times for Las Hurdes, for all Hurdanos and also for those couples, families or friends who are spending a few days on vacation in this spectacular region, we offer you three apartments so that you can continue enjoying your days of leisure and rest,” he asserted.
Along the same lines, Nacho Trevejo, owner of the ‘A Fala’ apartments in Sierra de Gata, has made a follow-up appeal: “If any Las Hurdes Tourism businessperson has clients who have evicted them, they are going to do so or they are in risk, the A Fala Apartments in Sierra de Gata are offered free of charge”. And incidentally, he sends a message to tourists: he will maintain the previously agreed rates in Las Hurdes without any added cost if they move to Sierra de Gata to continue their vacations in Extremadura. This is how Trevejo recalls what happened precisely in Sierra de Gata with another big fire in the summer of 2015: “It also happened to us and we received solidarity, now it’s our turn to take a step forward,” he stressed.
In the northern vertex of the province of Cáceres is this region of Las Hurdes, which Buñuel took to the cinema although little remains of that rural image that “Tierra sin pan” transmitted in 1932, as verified by the King of Spain, Felipe VI, and Queen Leticia on her recent trip last May to Pinofranqueado (the town with the largest number of inhabitants) in commemoration of the centenary of Alfonso XIII’s trip to the area and where they highlighted the economic and tourist potential of the area.
The last hour of the fire goes through the balance made this morning by the Civil Protection Territorial Plan, which has highlighted that last night has passed “relatively calm”, with several reproductions in the most dangerous area of the fire, the one located on the road which is heading towards Serradilla, although the media have managed to retain its progress, despite the strong wind in the area. What is burning, above all, is an area of pine forests.
Currently, 15 land resources, 5 aerial resources, 3 agents from the natural environment, 6 technicians are working on the fire, and throughout the morning more aerial resources will be incorporated, especially from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge.
Likewise, the support deployed in the area by the different endowments of the Emergency Military Unit, Brif, Sepei and the Red Cross continue. On the part of the 112 of Extremadura, the preventive evacuations of the six population centers of Ladrillar, Aceitunilla, Cabezo, Batuequilla, La Horcajada and Riomalo de Arriba are maintained.
On the other hand, the Santa Cruz de Paniagua fire, a population of the community of Trasierra-Tierras de Granadilla, remains active and at level 1 of danger. It is a reproduction of the fire declared last Sunday, and air and ground media, 1 agent from the natural environment, Sepei and Cpei media work on it.
Conforms to The Trust Project criteria
