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<\/a>However, discussing wildfire prevention and suppression does not mean eliminating fire altogether. In Mediterranean ecosystems, fire is part of the natural dynamics of the landscape and, when it remains within a natural or ecologically sustainable fire regime\u2014typically involving low- or moderate-intensity fires\u2014it can perform important ecological functions by promoting the regeneration of certain species, nutrient cycling and greater habitat diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The key is to learn to coexist with fire while preventing it from reaching, across large areas, levels of intensity and spread that exceed suppression capacity. In this respect, mosaic landscapes are one of the most effective tools for reducing the risk of large wildfires and supporting suppression operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is important to clarify, however, that management measures are not applied uniformly across the entire landscape. Priority is given to strategic areas and locations that can reduce the potential for fire spread, to containment corridors that limit fire transmission between large forest blocks, and to areas that protect communities and critical infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is also necessary to identify operational opportunities within the landscape\u2014that is, areas that can be used by wildfire suppression crews. Some already exist, while others need to be created or adapted. To be genuinely effective, they must meet the operational needs of emergency services and, where necessary, include safe access routes, water supply points and safety zones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why, then, have we seen mosaic landscapes\u2014including open areas and dehesa systems\u2014burn?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
It is important to bear in mind that not all wildfires behave in the same way and, more importantly, that they cannot all be approached or managed in the same manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In general terms, wildfire behaviour is determined by three main factors: vegetation, weather conditions and topography. Of these, vegetation\u2014the fuel that feeds the fire\u2014is the only factor we can directly manage to reduce wildfire risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When prolonged drought, strong winds and extended heatwaves occur simultaneously, a wildfire may spread with such speed and intensity that it exceeds the suppression capacity of emergency services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not an exceptional or unknown phenomenon, but a type of fire behaviour that is well understood by wildfire professionals. It is precisely under these conditions that mosaic landscapes become particularly important, as they can reduce fire intensity and spread while creating operational areas from which suppression crews can carry out direct or indirect attack operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, these landscape features are not designed to stop a wildfire on their own. They are only effective when suppression crews can make use of them in time. When insufficient resources are available, the fire will continue to spread. This is, in part, what has happened during the most recent wildfire events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What Factors Are Driving This New Reality?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In recent years, we have witnessed wildfires of an unusual magnitude in terms of their behaviour, the area burned, the simultaneous occurrence of multiple incidents and their impact on local communities. In the Sierra de la Culebra, one of the large wildfires of 2022 affected nearly 30,000 hectares. A year earlier, the Navalacruz wildfire had burned more than 21,000 hectares. More recently, in 2026, large wildfires have also occurred in Arag\u00f3n and Guadalajara.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These events help us better understand some of the factors shaping the new wildfire reality we are facing, which we examine below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Wildfire size and resource availability<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When wildfires affect tens of thousands of hectares, extend across perimeters of many kilometres, have several active fronts and threaten populated areas, suppression resources must be allocated according to the priorities and strategic objectives at any given time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, it is not always possible to take advantage of every operational opportunity provided by a mosaic landscape. The issue is not simply one of having more resources available, but of deciding where and when to intervene according to fire behaviour and the risks involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Extreme fire behaviour<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When a wildfire exhibits extreme fire behaviour, it can advance along fronts several kilometres wide, burn thousands of hectares within a few hours and generate long-range spotting. Under these conditions, even cropland, grasslands and other open areas may cease to provide effective opportunities for prevention and, above all, for wildfire suppression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taken together, these factors do not mean that mosaic landscapes are no longer a useful solution, but they do require them to be adapted to the type of wildfire that may occur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the face of extreme wildfire events, these strategies\u2014and, consequently, the mosaic landscape itself\u2014must go a step further in terms of their scale, design and characteristics if they are to provide genuinely effective operational opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mosaic landscapes remain an essential tool for reducing wildfire risk and creating territories that are more resilient to the passage of fire. However, if wildfires change in scale\u2014that is, if they increase in extent, intensity and frequency\u2014the mosaic itself must also adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the face of exceptional but increasingly frequent events, we also need new operational knowledge, improved forecasting and governance tools, and landscape planning specifically designed to prioritise the safety of local communities, emergency personnel and the wider public interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This adaptation is already beginning to be implemented. One example is the wildfire containment corridor strategy developed by the Bombers de la Generalitat. These corridors are intended to compartmentalise the landscape at a large scale by connecting and integrating agricultural fields, non-productive areas and major infrastructure in order to create containment opportunities for wildfires exhibiting extreme fire behaviour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Progress in this direction requires us to study these wildfires, learn from each event and build operational experience so that prevention and response strategies can be adapted to this new reality. At the Pau Costa Foundation, together with the Bombers de la Generalitat, we are working on projects such as ODET<\/a> <\/strong>and EWED<\/strong><\/a> to improve our understanding of extreme wildfires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This effort to adapt our strategies should not make us lose sight of a fundamental principle: a managed landscape will always be better prepared and will provide more opportunities for intervention than an abandoned one. At the same time, this new reality of extreme wildfires reminds us that conventional prevention measures must be complemented by greater knowledge, research and adaptive capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mosaic landscapes also provide another important benefit. By creating variations in fire behaviour, they help prevent the landscape from burning uniformly. This diversity in fire intensity and severity results in a wider range of habitats and creates refuge areas for different species.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ultimately, an agroforestry mosaic adapted to the scale of this new wildfire reality remains one of the main, most useful and most effective tools for addressing the majority of wildfires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We would like to thank photographer Pedro Armestre<\/a> for granting permission to use all the images featured in this article, which were taken in collaboration with Greenpeace<\/a> during the 2025 wildfires in Galicia and Castile and Le\u00f3n.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Following the wildfires that have occurred in Spain in 2026, a debate has emerged on social media about the effectiveness of mosaic landscapes as a tool for wildfire management. Some have raised the following question: if agroforestry mosaics help reduce fire spread and facilitate suppression operations, why have we also seen mosaic landscapes burn, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1007,"featured_media":25212,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[40,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualidad-en","category-blog-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n<\/a>What Strategies Are Available for These Scenarios?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Acknowledgements<\/h2>\n\n\n\n