The Xunta grants 1.08 million to 53 councils to prevent forest fires

The Department of Presidency, Justice and Sports has resolved the call for grants for Galician councils to purchase vehicles, adaptations, and forest fire prevention machinery, with a total of 1,079,841.03 euros distributed among 53 municipalities. The decision, signed on September 2, 2026, is published in the Official Gazette of Galicia number 182, of September 24, 2026, and concludes procedure PR486F.

The call stems from the Order of June 3, 2026, published in DOG number 110, of June 15, which established the regulatory bases under a competitive bidding regime. The grants are 60% co-financed by the European Union within the Galicia Feder 2021-2027 program.

The credit was charged to budget application 05.04.141A.760.4 (2026 00006 Municipal machinery bank), with a maximum amount of 1,087,500.00 euros in the Autonomous Community’s budgets for 2026. The final committed expenditure, 1,079,841.03 euros, consumes almost all the available credit.

What can be financed

The purpose is to provide environmental and natural space protection brigades with means for specific prevention tasks. The bases allow for three types of investment:

• Vehicles and their adaptations for the maintenance and preventive cleaning of the surroundings of municipal roads and paths.
• Light electric forestry machinery.
• Complementary vehicles for forestry prevention tasks and their adaptations.

The granted projects include brush cutters (arm and self-propelled), mini-excavators, shredders, tractors, tipping trailers, skid-steer loaders, and multi-function pick-up vehicles.

53 beneficiaries and 76 excluded applications

Annex I lists in alphabetical order the 53 beneficiary entities, with a joint budget of 4,855,739.07 euros. Twelve councils reached the maximum cap of 30,000 euros per application: Cabanas, Cedeira, O Incio, Oímbra, A Peroxa, O Porriño, Ribas de Sil, A Ribeira de Piquín, O Riós, San Cibrao das Viñas, Tomiño, and A Veiga. In these cases, the effective financing percentage falls below 60% as the project exceeds the grant limit.

The remaining applications were divided between rejections and withdrawals:

• 64 applications dismissed in Annex II for not reaching the minimum score.
• 12 inadmissible in Annex III for failing to prove the call requirements before the deadline.
• 5 withdrawals in Annex IV, of which two are due to a lack of amendment within the ten-day period and three are voluntary withdrawals.

Deadlines, justification, and obligations

• Acceptance: ten days from the day following the notification of the document establishing the conditions of the aid (DECA); without express acceptance, the right to payment is lost.
• Execution and justification: the deadline ends on November 15, 2026.
• Advance payments or payments on account are not permitted.
• Payment is made based on the actual cost; if the executed investment is lower than planned, the grant is reduced proportionally.
• Municipalities may subcontract the total execution of the project in accordance with article 17 of the bases.
• Entities must comply with the information and publicity obligations of the ERDF co-financing under Regulation (EU) 2021/1060.

Processing and appeal process

The General Directorate of Local Administration acted as the instructing body and issued a report on August 28, 2026. A valuation commission chaired by the Director General of Local Administration, composed of the heads of the territorial delegations of the Xunta, formulated the proposal in the minutes of September 1, 2026. The resolution was signed by Natalia Prieto Viso, Director General of Local Administration, by delegation of the Minister of Presidency, Justice and Sports.

Against the resolution, which exhausts the administrative route, an optional appeal for reversal may be filed before the Minister within one month, or a contentious-administrative appeal before the High Court of Justice of Galicia within two months.

The resolution closes the procedure and opens the execution period: the 53 beneficiary municipalities have until November 15, 2026, to acquire and justify the equipment, with no possibility of advances. The impact of the line is measured at 1.08 million euros of municipal investment in prevention, with 60% of the cost assumed by the ERDF.

Source: Official Gazette of Galicia, no. 182, September 24, 2026, section III. Other provisions, p. 50154 (official reference: CVE-DOG: lixwqdq8-o5a6-ec08-nqz7-f9fksksxe6i1).