Carbon Offset Company Replanting Trees Accidentally Burns 35,000 Acres in SECOND Forest Fire They Caused This Summer
MIGUEL RIOPA/AFP via Getty Images
A carbon offset company that was planting trees in Spain accidentally started a massive wildfire that has consumed about 35,000 acres — and it wasn’t even the first forest fire they caused this summer.
“The fire started in Bubierca, a province of Zaragoza, the capital of autonomous community Aragon, when a Land Life contractor planting trees accidentally set off sparks that ignited nearby plant life,” reported Vice News.
A contractor working with the company was “using a retro-spider excavator to prepare the soil to plant trees later this winter” when the fire started, Dutch company Land Life said in a press release (available here in Spanish).
According to the release, emergency services were, “working non-stop to control the fire,” and had established a fire perimeter, but not before the flames had destroyed about 35,000 acres.
This was not the first fire they’ve caused, but at least last month’s was a far more minor conflagration, burning just under 50 acres.
Land Life plants trees to “offset” carbon emissions from fossil fuel industries, but it is not known how many trees they have actually planted — or what their net positive effect has been after the forest fires.
The local Bubierca mayor seemed unimpressed with their work, telling local media it was “not good” that the forest fires “happen[ed] once and that they continue working.”
Area residents have also been inconvenienced and endangered by the fire, as Vice reported:
The fire has forced authorities to order the evacuation of five neighboring towns, as well as a nursing home. In total, around 2,000 people had to be evacuated. Javier Lambán, the president of Aragon, said the incident is “serious and concerning,” according to local media.
“Even though the situation is better than the worst forecasts, we maintain all alerts active because weather changes could cause activations on different fronts and the best is to act based on worst case scenarios,” Lambán reportedly said.
