We are neighbors who at some point have been forced to put out intentional fires in the forest of our town, or we had to pack our bags because the fire surrounded our houses, or the fire has devastated our farms, or that this simply affects us.

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These intentional fires are common in Spain, where this initiative comes from. And this happens because not everyone is against forest fires: there are many [interests and motivations](http://www.naturalezacantabrica.es/2015/12/el-infierno-en-asturies-quien-quema-el.html), more than you can [imagine](http://ctxt.es/es/20170906/Politica/14827/ctxt-incendios-corrupci%C3%B3n-portugal-Avialsa-Faasa.htm).

**In the north of Spain, usually humid, when the weather conditions are favorable, the arson fires multiply. This situation sometimes causes the emergency services to collapse and so they cannot turn up to all of the [fires](https://elpais.com/elpais/2017/10/17/inenglish/1508231214_008450.html). So the neighbors have no choice but to [organize](https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/bjvwgv/photos-of-galicians-fighting-wildfires-together) themself.**

The arsonists are conscious of these saturations, so their fires are very effective. The information that is sent from different individuals to the emergency services is not announced to people willing to act nor to those that are in danger, they are completely defenceless.

**In the broken orography of our area, a fire can reach your back quite quickly. So the early and public detection of fires is crucial, especially when we have little means to combat them.**

We imagine that there are digital tools of this type that our emergency services use, but they are not public, at least not here. This encouraged us to develop these tools.

In addition, according to friends from other latitudes, these problems also take place in their countries, so we have translated it and shared it with everyone as Free Software [these tools](https://github.com/comunes/todos-contra-el-fuego).

We also maintain an archive of the documentation of the fires. There, those who have been affected by fires can provide information and thus help, for example, to investigate the causes of each fire. We are also developing more tools of this type.

In such a difficult climate, in which the last thing we have to do is emit more CO2, we believe that we must take more legal measures before reaching this point where certain people profit from fires and other people like us, have to shut them down.

**They also ask us, why do we develop something like this if it does not enrich us [sic]. Maybe that's exactly the problem, that what enriches some people is to burn what belongs to everyone. And who cares about what is of everyone?**

You can participate in this initiative, from helping to monitor your area, spreanding the word about this initiative among your contacts, [helping to translate](https://translate.comunes.org/projects/todos-contra-el-fuego/) these tools into your language, contributing ideas or developing them, and/or helping to pay for the [expenses of our servers](https://comunes.org/donate). You can contact us if you have more questions at [fires@comunes.org](mailto:fires@comunes.org).

Thank you,
