Arroyomolinos de la Vera opens its forest fire ordinance for public allegations

The City Council of Arroyomolinos de la Vera has initially approved the municipal ordinance for the prevention of forest fires in the peri-urban area of its municipal district. The agreement of the Plenary was adopted on September 17, 2026, and the announcement is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Cáceres number 0180, corresponding to Monday, September 21, 2026, within Section I - Local Administration. The text remains open for public information for a minimum period of thirty days from the day following its insertion in the gazette.

Thirty days for allegations and final approval

The processing complies with articles 49 and 70.2 of Law 7/1985, of April 2, Regulating the Bases of Local Regime, and article 56 of the Revised Text of the Local Regime. During that month, any interested party may examine the file at the municipal offices and submit any claims they deem appropriate; the full text is also available on the City Council’s electronic office.

If no claim is submitted within the indicated period, the approval agreement will be understood as definitively adopted without the need for a new plenary pronouncement. The announcement appears signed in Arroyomolinos de la Vera on September 18, 2026, by the mayor-president, Manuel Mateos Campos.

400-meter peri-urban strip and 50-meter protection band

The regulation governs the measures that landowners must comply with, with special attention to the peri-urban area defined in the Municipal Peri-Urban Forest Fire Prevention Plan (PPPI), a planning instrument whose determinations shall be mandatory. The strip is 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 Decree 260/2014, of December 2.

Within that strip, a protection band is distinguished with a minimum width of 50 meters from the limit of the urban center, consisting of a 5-meter perimeter line devoid of vegetation and a protection area to complete the 50 meters. Fuel reduction treatments must be carried out annually and, generally, before June 1 of each year, the start date of the high-danger period.

The planned actions include:

• Reduction of grassland height and elimination or reduction of scrubland.
• Livestock utilization of grassland and periodic mowing, clearing, or tilling.
• Elimination of pioneer scrub and thinning of dense tree masses.
• Pruning of trees to increase the distance between the ground and the canopies.

Obligations for owners and vulnerable points

Compliance shall be the responsibility of the owners, usufructuaries, or tenants of the affected plots; when the direct and beneficial ownership belong to different persons, the obligation shall fall upon the holder of the beneficial ownership. Buildings must have a safety strip of at least three meters free of vegetation in their vertical projection, and plots must be kept free of waste, rubble, and combustible materials.

Vulnerable points or those susceptible to risk, such as isolated buildings, installations, equipment, or singular infrastructures, shall have an immediate strip of approximately three meters and an outer protection area that extends the band up to 30 meters. It is also required to maintain access for emergency vehicles, maneuvering spaces in dead-end roads, and operational water points, in accordance with Annex V of the Order of October 24, 2016, which approves the technical regulations of the regional prevention plan.

Inspection, subsidiary execution, and fines of up to 3,000 euros

The City Council shall assume inspection and control through its technical services, whose personnel shall be considered authority agents. In the event of non-compliance, it may request the execution of measures and, failing that, act subsidiarily with the recovery of expenses via the enforcement procedure, in accordance with Article 102 of Law 39/2015. In situations of serious or imminent risk, it may intervene immediately without prior notice.

The sanctioning regime classifies minor, serious, and very serious infractions, with the following amounts:

• 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 ordinance is issued under the protection, among other regulations, of Law 3/2019 on the guarantee of municipal autonomy of Extremadura, Law 5/2004 on the prevention and fight against forest fires in Extremadura, Decree 260/2014, and the PREIFEX Plan, and is conceived as a complementary instrument to state and regional regulations.

The regulation arrives in the midst of the risk season and transfers specific cleaning and self-protection obligations to residents, the economic consequences of which can reach 3,000 euros. For owners of plots in the urban-forest environment, the month for submissions that now opens is the only opportunity to influence a text that, if not challenged, will be definitively approved.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Cáceres, no. 0180, September 21, 2026, Section I - Local Administration, pp. 21660-21671 (official reference: BOP-2026-4375).