Andalusia opens the firefighters' coordination decree for public consultation

The Ministry of Presidency, Health and Emergencies of the Regional Government of Andalusia has opened for public consultation the draft Decree on the coordination, organization, and operation of the Fire Prevention, Extinction and Rescue Services and the Registry of its personnel. The procedure was formalized through the Resolution of September 24, 2026, of the Technical General Secretariat of the Presidency, published in the Official Gazette of the Government of Andalusia (BOJA) no. 189, of September 29, 2026 (text no. 12627). The future regulation affects extinction services throughout the community, from municipal services to provincial consortia.

The announcement is included in section 3, Other provisions of the gazette, spanning two pages, and corresponds to the mandatory procedure prior to the approval of the text by the Governing Council. With the opening of the public consultation period, citizens, local entities, and interested organizations may submit allegations to the articles before the decree acquires definitive status.

The project arrives in a year marked by the greatest fire emergency of the last decade in Andalusia, which places the coordination of extinction devices at the center of the administrative debate.

What the future decree regulates

The text submitted for consultation organizes three areas that until now were regulated in a dispersed manner:

• The coordination of the Fire Prevention, Extinction and Rescue Services between administrations.
• The organization and internal operation of those services.
• The Registry of its personnel, an instrument for the organization of firefighter staffing.

The resolution is limited to opening the public consultation process for the project, without the gazette yet detailing the specific articles or the exact deadline for allegations.

The Niebla fire, the backdrop

The immediate context is the forest fire that started on August 6, 2026, in the Raboconejo area, in the municipality of Niebla (Huelva), declared a natural disaster by the Agreement of August 31, 2026, of the Governing Council (BOJA no. 171, of September 3, 2026). According to that agreement, the fire affected eleven municipalities in Huelva and Seville, with a perimeter of approximately 210 kilometers and around 33,000 hectares burned.

In the extinction efforts, alongside the INFOCA Plan and the Emergency Agency of Andalusia, the provincial firefighter consortia of Huelva and Seville intervened, as well as the Military Emergencies Unit (UME):

• Up to 500 professionals during the moments of highest intensity.
• 11 fire engines and up to 26 aerial assets.
• 28,578.74 hectares affected in Huelva and 5,072.51 in Seville.
• The municipality of Berrocal lost nearly 62% of its municipal area.

Staffing and ongoing calls for applications

The staffing arrangement coincides with a significant volume of selection processes in the sector. In the same issue of the bulletin, the City Council of Alcalá de Guadaíra publishes the rules to fill, as permanent positions through internal promotion and in execution of the 2026 OPE, one Sub-inspector position, six Head of Crew positions, and 25 Firefighter positions (text no. 12185).

Added to this are the appointments of career civil servants for the Technical Corps of Forest Fire and Emergency Non-Commissioned Officers (BOJA no. 188, of September 28, 2026, text no. 12558) and the offer of vacancies for the Superior Corps of Forest Fire and Emergency Inspector Officers (BOJA no. 167, of August 28, 2026, text no. 11295).

The decree currently being processed thus aims to standardize coordination between administrations and to provide a single registry for extinction personnel, a recurring demand from city councils and provincial consortia. For readers, the process opens the door to allegations regarding how the services responding to fires and rescues will be organized throughout Andalusia, and establishes the labor and competency framework for thousands of firefighters.

Source: Official Gazette of the Junta de Andalucía, no. 189, of September 29, 2026, section 3. Other provisions (official reference: text no. 12627).