The wildfire in the municipality of Ponteareas (province of Pontevedra) is under control. The Consellería do Medio Rural provisionally put the area affected so far at around 70 hectares on Thursday morning. A further, smaller fire in the parish of Bóveda (province of Lugo) was extinguished overnight on Wednesday; initial estimates put the area burned there at around 3 hectares.
The fire in Ponteareas broke out at around 17:30 on Tuesday, 18 August 2026, in Parroquia Nogueira . On Wednesday morning, the Xunta de Galicia classified the fire as stabilised; crews held the perimeter that evening. On Thursday, the Consellería do Medio Rural declared the fire under control. The area figures are preliminary and may change once surveying is complete.
A substantial aerial and ground response was mobilised to tackle the fire in Ponteareas. According to the Consellería, six technicians, 25 forestry officers and 37 brigades were deployed, supported by 29 fire engines, three bulldozers and four technical support units. From the air, nine helicopters and four firefighting aircraft provided assistance. National specialist units were also requested, including BRIF Laza and the BRIF Tabuyo. Even after the fire was classified as stabilised, teams remained on site to extinguish hot spots and prevent it from flaring up again along the fire perimeter.
The separate incident in Bóveda, near the city of Lugo, was reported on Wednesday and extinguished overnight on Thursday. No reports of injuries or evacuations were initially available. The authorities have not yet commented on possible causes of either fire; investigations routinely begin once the situation is secure.
Galicia regularly experiences periods of heightened forest fire risk in August. In its situation reports, the regional administration distinguishes between three response phases: “stabilised” (no uncontrolled spread expected), “under control” (the fire line is contained) and “extinguished”. Status reports are updated as information becomes available; consequently, affected areas and incident data may vary in official updates. For the ongoing incidents in Ponteareas and Bóveda, the statements from the Consellería do Medio Rural and the Xunta de Galicia are authoritative: on Thursday morning, they listed Ponteareas as “under control” and Bóveda as “extinguished”.
Editor: Andreas M. Brucker (Article created with AI assistance).