Pinofranqueado makes its ordinance against peri-urban forest fires definitive

The Pinofranqueado City Council has made final the Municipal Ordinance for the prevention of forest fires in the peri-urban area of its municipal district, as no claims were filed against the provisional agreement of the Plenary. The full text is published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Cáceres number 0214, dated November 9, 2026, Section I - Local Administration, pages 25089 to 25100, with official reference BOP-2026-5215.

The initial agreement was adopted by the Plenary of the Pinofranqueado City Council in an extraordinary and urgent session held on September 18, 2026, and is now made final in accordance with article 17.3 of Royal Legislative Decree 2/2004, of March 5, which approves the Revised Text of the Law Regulating Local Treasuries. The full publication of the text responds to article 17.4 of that same regulation.

The ordinance is presented as a complementary municipal instrument to state and regional regulations, and is issued under the protection of Law 7/1985 Regulating the Bases of the Local Regime, 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, in addition to the Municipal Peri-Urban Forest Fire Prevention Plan (PPPI) of the municipality itself. The document bears the signature of the mayor-president, José Luis Azabal Hernández, and is dated in Pinofranqueado on November 4, 2026.

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

The regulation applies to the entire municipal district, although the most demanding measures are concentrated in the peri-urban strip, configured perimetrically around the urban center with an average width of 400 meters from the urban land limit in the nuclei included in the High Forest Fire Risk Zones of Annex I of Decree 260/2014.

Within that strip, a protection band of the urban center with a minimum width of 50 meters is distinguished, consisting of:

• A perimeter line devoid of vegetation (LPD) of 5 meters next to the urban limit.
• A protection area (APD) up to the completion of the 50 meters, with fuel reduction treatments and self-protection measures.

For vulnerable points—isolated buildings, installations, equipment, or singular infrastructures—an immediate strip of 3 meters free of vegetation throughout its vertical projection is required, and an external protection area that extends the band up to 30 meters.

Annual cleaning of plots before June 1st

The obligated parties are the holders of rights over the land: owners, usufructuaries, or tenants; when the direct and beneficial ownership correspond to different persons, the obligation falls upon the holder of the beneficial ownership. The actions—livestock grazing of the pasture, mowing, clearing or tilling, removal of pioneer scrub, thinning of dense masses, and pruning of trees—must be carried out annually and, as a general rule, before June 1st of each year, prior to the start of the high-risk period.

In urban land, plot owners must maintain them in conditions of cleanliness, health, safety, and public ornament, free of waste, spontaneous vegetation remains, rubble, or abandoned furniture. They are also required to keep the accesses and roads of the peri-urban strip passable and the water points for recharging extinction means operational, in accordance with Annex V of the Order of October 24, 2016.

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

The municipal technical services assume inspection and surveillance, acting as authority agents. If non-compliance is detected, the City Council may request the holder to comply and, if the actions are not executed within the deadline, proceed to the subsidiary execution provided for in Article 102 of Law 39/2015, recovering the costs—personnel, machinery, transport, and waste management—via the enforcement procedure. In the event of serious or imminent risk, it may act immediately, without prior notice.

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.

An administrative appeal may be filed against the final approval agreement within a period of 2 months from the day following the publication of the text in the provincial bulletin.

The ordinance transfers a direct maintenance burden to plot owners and turns the cleaning of the urban-forest environment into a verifiable obligation, with municipal inspection, execution at the holder’s expense, and economic sanctions. For the residents of Pinofranqueado with land in the peri-urban strip or in urban land, the calendar is clear: the work must be completed before June 1st of each year.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Cáceres, no. 0214, November 9, 2026, Section I - Local Administration, pp. 25089-25100 (official reference: BOP-2026-5215).