Vilar de Barrio opens its municipal forest fire prevention plan to the public

The Vilar de Barrio City Council submits for public information the initial approval of the Municipal Plan for the Prevention and Defense against Forest Fires (PMPDIF), the document that delimits the secondary protection strips within the municipal district and identifies the affected plots. The announcement was published in the Official Gazette of the Province of Ourense on October 26, 2026, in section IV of Local Entities, with official reference 352994 (R. 2.521). Starting from the day following the publication, a period of 20 business days is opened for any interested person to examine the file and formulate the allegations they consider appropriate.

The procedure follows the provisions of article 83 of Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the common administrative procedure of public administrations, which allows the council to agree on a public information period during which those responsible for forest management have access to information regarding the plan and the plots affected by the secondary strips. The agreement was adopted in the exercise of the powers of article 21 of Law 7/1985, on the bases of the local regime, and the processing conforms to the indications of the Xunta de Galicia and the public company Servizos Agrarios Galegos, S.A. (Seaga).

Twenty business days and electronic consultation

The public exhibition period is 20 business days counted from the day following the publication of the announcement in the provincial gazette. During this period, the text and the full content of the document may be consulted on the notice board of the council’s electronic headquarters, available at https://vilardebarrio.sedelectronica.gal.

Allegations must be submitted before the end of this period. Once the public exhibition has ended and the appropriate allegations have been accepted, where applicable, the file will continue its processing with the provisional approval of the plan.

From provisional approval to the regional report

The administrative calendar set in the announcement establishes the following stages:

• Provisional approval of the plan by the municipal Plenary, after resolving the submitted allegations.
• Request to the General Directorate of Forest Defense of the Department of Rural Affairs for the mandatory and binding report, together with the allegations received and those made ex officio by the council, so that they may be accepted or rejected and the plan modified if necessary.
• Final approval, which may correspond to the council Plenary or a Mayoral decree, once the favorable report has been received along with the signed final plan.
• Communication of the final approval to the General Directorate of Forest Defense via a written document sent by registry.

According to the document, the strips of the definitively approved plan will become available in the public viewer of forest fire protection strips of the Xunta de Galicia (https://mapas.xunta.gal/visores/faixas).

Applicable legal framework and biomass obligations

The sectoral regulations invoked in the file are as follows:

• Law 3/2007, of April 9, on the prevention and defense against forest fires in Galicia.
• Law 7/2012, of June 28, on forests of Galicia.
• Law 9/2017, of December 26, on fiscal and administrative measures.
• Instruction 1/2018, of April 26, regarding administrative actions concerning the fulfillment of plant biomass management obligations and the removal of tree species.
• Law 6/2011, of October 13, on land mobility, cited together with the previous one in the instruction.

The delimitation of the secondary strips determines which plots are subject to biomass management obligations and who the persons responsible for their fulfillment are, an aspect that the announcement places among the most common grounds for objection.

Impact for owners

The public information period opens the door for plot owners and forest communities to review whether their lands are included in the secondary strips before the plan is definitively approved. Subsequent publication in the regional viewer will turn that delimitation into a reference consultable by all citizens, along with the biomass management obligations deriving from it.

Source: Official Gazette of the Province of Ourense, October 26, 2026, section IV. Local Entities (official reference: 352994, R. 2.521).