Arroyomolinos de la Vera approves its ordinance against peri-urban fires

The City Council of Arroyomolinos de la Vera has definitively approved the municipal ordinance regulating the prevention of forest fires in the peri-urban area of the municipal district. The agreement of the Plenary, adopted on September 17, 2026, is now published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Cáceres number 0209, dated October 30, 2026, with the official reference BOP-2026-5086 and file 183/2026. The regulation requires owners of land included in the protection strip to carry out annual cleaning work and establishes a sanctioning regime with fines of up to 3,000 euros.

The announcement, signed by the Mayor-President Manuel Mateos Campos on October 26, 2026, certifies that the initial plenary agreement was automatically elevated to definitive status as no claims were filed during the public exhibition period, in compliance with article 70.2 of Law 7/1985, regulating the Bases of the Local Regime. The ordinance is conceived as a complementary instrument to state and regional regulations and is issued under the protection of, among other norms, Law 5/2004 on the prevention and fight against forest fires in Extremadura, Decree 260/2014, and the PREIFEX Plan.

A 400-meter strip around the urban center

The text delimits its main scope of application in the peri-urban strip, configured perimetrically around the urban center with an average width of 400 meters from the limit of the urban land in the nuclei included in the High Forest Fire Risk Zones of annex I of Decree 260/2014. The specific delimitation of affected surfaces and plots corresponds to the Municipal Peri-Urban Forest Fire Prevention Plan (PPPI), whose determinations are mandatory for both the landowners and the City Council itself.

Within that strip, a protection band for the urban center of a minimum of 50 meters is established, structured in two sections:

• A vegetation-free perimeter line (LPD) 5 meters wide, located next to the urban limit.
• A protection area (APD) that completes the 50 meters, with fuel reduction treatments and self-protection measures.

Vulnerable or risk points—isolated buildings, installations, equipment, and singular infrastructures—must have an immediate strip of approximately 3 meters free of vegetation in vertical projection and an exterior protection area that extends the band up to 30 meters.

Mandatory work before June 1st

The owners, usufructuaries, or tenants of the affected plots shall be responsible for compliance; when the direct ownership and beneficial ownership correspond to different persons, the obligation falls upon the holder of the beneficial ownership. The treatments—grassland reduction, scrub removal, mowing or clearing, thinning of dense masses, and pruning of trees—must be carried out annually and, as a general rule, before June 1st of each year.

In urban areas, plot owners must keep them free of waste, vegetation debris, and combustible materials, and it is prohibited to abandon garbage, rubble, furniture, or construction remains. Furthermore, buildings must have a security strip of at least 3 meters free of vegetation, and the roads and paths of the peri-urban strip must be kept passable for firefighting equipment, with permanently operational water points in accordance with Annex V of the Order of October 24, 2016.

Inspection, subsidiary execution, and fines

Inspection shall be the responsibility of the municipal technical services, whose personnel shall be considered agents of authority. If non-compliance is detected, the City Council may request the holder to comply and, if not addressed, execute the actions subsidiarily with the recovery of costs through the enforcement procedure, in accordance with Article 102 of Law 39/2015. In situations of serious or imminent risk, it may act immediately and without prior notice, also on abandoned plots or those without an identified owner, without altering the ownership regime.

The sanctioning regime distinguishes three levels:

• Minor infractions: up to 750 euros.
• Serious infractions: from 751 to 1,500 euros.
• Very serious infractions: from 1,501 to 3,000 euros.

The amount will be determined based on the severity of the risk, the affected area, the repetition or recidivism, and the degree of intent or negligence. Sanctions are compatible with other administrative, civil, or criminal liabilities.

Appeal before the High Court of Justice

An administrative appeal may be filed against the agreement before the Administrative Chamber of the High Court of Justice of Cáceres within two months from the day following the publication of the announcement, according to Article 46 of Law 29/1998.

The ordinance turns the self-protection of the urban-forest environment into an enforceable obligation with deadlines, inspection, and sanctions, and transfers a part of the responsibility for the defense of the municipality against fire to the owners of peri-urban and urban center plots. The calendar sets June 1st as the deadline for the work, so that the first full exercise of application will coincide with the next high-risk fire season.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Cáceres, no. 0209, October 30, 2026, Section I - Local Administration, page 24666 (official reference: BOP-2026-5086).