- The contributions from the Galician Government are exempt from taxation and beneficiaries can request, in most of the aid lines, 100% advances
- The autonomous administration commits to reducing bureaucracy in the processing of applications and to speeding up payments
Santiago de Compostela, 3 September 2025
The President of the Xunta, Alfonso Rueda, accompanied by members of the Galician Government, held a meeting today with mayors of municipalities affected by this summer’s wave of wildfires to discuss the aid lines that the Xunta has launched to respond to the damage caused by the fires.
In a statement following the meeting, the Minister of the Presidency, Justice and Sports, Diego Calvo, conveyed the “constructive tone” of the meeting, during which representatives of the autonomous executive detailed the various aid lines for the reconstruction of areas affected by the fires, approved last Friday at an extraordinary Xunta Council meeting in Ourense and published the following day in the Official Journal of Galicia (DOG). The approved aid, which was communicated today to the mayors, includes compensation for personal damages; support to cover expenses of local entities, companies, and also agricultural, livestock and forestry holdings, as well as measures aimed at the rehabilitation and reconstruction of homes or the recovery of infrastructures in protected areas and hunting habitats.
The Minister recalled that since Monday all these lines of aid have been open to those affected and that the 16 offices close to the affected areas are also open. In addition, telephone support is available through the citizen information and assistance helpline, which has been strengthened.
Today’s meeting was “a first point of contact” to present the different regulations that can be applied for, learn about the municipalities’ demands and address their questions. “If during the firefighting the priority was to protect people and homes, once the last hotspots have been extinguished, the next step is to stay alongside the municipalities to help them with reconstruction,” stressed the Minister of the Presidency.
The Xunta is working intensively to resolve all applications with the commitment to “reduce bureaucracy in their processing” and to speed up payments. It should be clarified that the contributions from the Galician Government are exempt from taxation and, as Diego Calvo reminded, beneficiaries can request 100% advances in most aid lines. In this regard, he qualified that, in the case of support for expenses incurred by local entities due to their actions as a consequence of the fires, as well as for damage caused to municipally owned goods, it is necessary to first assess and justify the costs in order to enable the corresponding collaboration agreements.
Furthermore, Diego Calvo added that, apart from the aid, the Xunta, through Augas de Galicia, is already working to mitigate possible effects of runoff caused by rains or river flows in the Galicia-Coast Hydrographic Demarcation, the only one of the four in the community that is under autonomous competence. In this respect, measures are being carried out to prevent ashes from reaching the rivers. Additionally, the meeting also explained the ongoing work carried out by the Rural Environment department to study the affected land and subsequently undertake erosion prevention and restoration actions.
