The Directorate of Forests opens public consultation on the use of fire

The General Directorate of Forests and Biodiversity of the Ministry of Rural Development, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Government of Cantabria has opened the prior public consultation process for the future drafting of an Order to regulate the use of fire and activities capable of generating risk situations regarding forest fires. The decision is formalized through a resolution published in the Official Gazette of Cantabria (BOC) No. 198, of October 15, 2026, with official reference CVE-2026-7983. Potentially affected citizens, organizations, and associations have a period of ten days, counting from the day following publication, to submit their opinions.

The legal framework requiring regulation

The resolution invokes Article 44.3 of Law 43/2003, of November 21, on Forests, which establishes that autonomous communities shall regulate, in forests and adjacent areas, the exercise of all activities that may give rise to a risk of fire. The process is further supported by Article 51.2 of Law 5/2018, of November 22, on the Legal Regime of the Government, the Administration and the Institutional Public Sector of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria, which requires prior public consultation before the drafting of Order projects.

Section 6 of Article 48 of the Forest Law, incorporated by the modification introduced via Royal Decree-Law 15/2022, of August 1, on urgent measures regarding forest fires, obliges Cantabria to adopt certain prohibitions and limitations when, according to meteorological information from the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), a very high or extreme level of fire risk is predictable within a territorial area.

Adapting prohibitions to the danger level

The stated objective of the regulation is to adapt the prohibitions and limitations of activities that can cause forest fires to the different levels of meteorological danger and to the reality of the fire problem in Cantabria. To this end, the regional Executive will use as a technical basis the analyses of the causality and motivations of forest fires in the community, in order to design and implement prevention policies.

The future Order will update and improve current regulations, specifically Order DES/44/2007, of August 8, which establishes rules on the use of fire and preventive measures regarding forest fires, in light of the experience acquired. The resolution dismisses non-regulatory alternatives as they are not considered viable, given the legal mandate of Article 44.3 of the Forest Law.

How and where to submit allegations

Opinions must be formulated in writing and addressed to the General Directorate of Forests and Biodiversity, through the following channels:

• Registry of the Regional Ministry of Rural Development, Livestock, Fisheries and Food, at calle Albert Einstein, 2, PCTCAN, C.P. 39011, Santander.
• Any other registry or place provided for in article 134.8 of Law 5/2018, of November 22.
• Transparency Portal of Cantabria, in the box enabled for this purpose and following the instructions therein, accessible at http://participacion.cantabria.es/.

The points on which an opinion is requested are four:

• The problems that the future regulation intends to solve.
• The necessity and opportunity of its approval.
• The objectives of said regulation.
• Possible alternative regulatory and non-regulatory solutions.

The resolution is signed in Santander on October 7, 2026, by the Director General of Forests and Biodiversity, Ángel Serdio Cosío, and is likewise published in the Transparency Portal of Cantabria.

Impact on the rural environment

The new regulation will directly affect rural landowners, farmers, livestock breeders, and residents of forest areas, who will see practices such as controlled burns or the use of machinery and activities with a risk of ignition conditioned based on the meteorological alert level. This process now opens the door for these groups to influence the content of the regulation before its final drafting, in a context of growing concern for the prevention of forest fires in the community.

Source: Official Gazette of Cantabria, no. 198, of October 15, 2026, Section I, pp. 52803-52804 (official reference: CVE-2026-7983).