Proposed basic statute for wildland firefighters

Automatic summary, not yet reviewed

1. The bill would regulate the duties and conditions of personnel who prevent, detect and put out forest fires, and would create a common framework of rights and obligations for all of them across Spain.
2. Services would have to run all year with enough staff, the service could not be assigned or subcontracted to third parties, and only professional employees or public employees could do the work, never volunteers or self-employed workers.
3. Anyone doing these duties would be recognized as a Bombero Forestal, with the training and rights of that category, and would hold the status of agent of the authority when exercising their public powers.
4. The bill sets specific rights such as pay supplements for danger, hardship or night work, overtime paid at least 150% of the regular hourly rate, and a ten-hour daily shift limit, extendable to twelve hours only in emergencies.
5. Staff would be automatically transferred if the company providing the service changes, and winning companies would have to be classified under the civil protection economic activity code and could not subcontract.
6. A State Commission for the Coordination of Bomberos Forestales would be created within six months, and the Government would have one year to approve specific rules on occupational risk prevention for this group.

Who it affects

• Wildland firefighters and people working in fire prevention and suppression: They would get a common framework of rights, training, occupational health and job stability across Spain.
• Public and private companies providing forestry services: They would have to be classified under civil protection, not subcontract, and transfer staff when ownership changes.
• Public administrations: They would have to guarantee year-round service coverage, plan resources and apply gender equality plans.
• Small rural municipalities: Planning would have to guarantee territorial coverage in towns with fewer than 20,000 residents.

Words worth knowing

Subrogación (staff transfer)

Moving to work for the new company or administration that takes over the service, keeping your labor rights.

Agente de la autoridad (agent of the authority)

A person whose orders, when acting in their public role, must be obeyed, and whose resistance can have legal consequences.

Segunda actividad (second activity)

A lighter-duty job for workers who can no longer perform regular duties for physical reasons.

Proposición de ley (bill)

A text submitted by a parliamentary group to become law; it is not an approved law yet.

It summarizes the text as it was introduced. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries