Madrid Forest Firefighters thank 'Mañaneros 360' for making their conflict with the Ayuso Government visible

The Forest Firefighters of the Community of Madrid have publicly thanked ‘Mañaneros 360’, from TVE, for the space dedicated to the labor situation that the collective is going through and to the conflict it has maintained for more than three years with the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso. Through their social networks, the workers have highlighted that the program has served to convey their demands and give visibility to a situation that, they assure, has been going on for years.

"Many thanks @MananerosTVE @rtve @rtvenoticias and @aidabaopena. For giving a voice to the #BomberosForestalesCBCM", they wrote on X. In the same message they summarized their main demands: "+3 years of conflict", "Without professional category", "Without supplements, danger, toxicity,...", "Without working all year as marked by the opposition" and "Without doing prevention", they expressed in a message published on their X account. 

Muchas gracias @MananerosTVE @rtve @rtvenoticias y @aidabaopena
Por dar voz a los #BomberosForestalesCBCM
+3años de conflicto
Sin categoría profesional
Sin complementos, peligrosidad, toxicidad,...
Sin trabajar todo el año como marcaba la oposición
Sin hacer prevención#INFOMA26 https://t.co/lt3PfR26hs

— Bomberos Forestales CBCM (@bomberos_infoma) August 13, 2026

The collective maintains that the problem continues without a definitive solution and denounces that there are still no proposals to fully apply Law 5/2024. Among their demands is also the reinforcement of a staff that, according to the workers, is approximately at 50% of the planned hiring and has employees whose contracts they consider to be in fraud of law.

The public forest firefighters of the Community of Madrid Fire Department have also taken their protests to the operational sphere. Within the framework of the conflict, they announced that they would stop traveling to fire stations using their own vehicles and means and that they would return to their workplace, the General Directorate of Emergencies (DGE), located in Las Rozas.

The confrontation with Ayuso during the fires

The dispute between the collective and the Madrid Executive has intensified during the fires that have affected the region. Isabel Díaz Ayuso herself lashed out at around 60 workers who reported having remained without vehicles, tools, or instructions to join the extinction efforts.

During a visit to Pelayos de la Presa, one of the municipalities hit by the Sierra Oeste fire, the Madrid president accused the forest firefighters of "intoxicating" during an emergency situation and stated that "they should have been like the rest of their colleagues, risking their lives on the front line of fire and not intoxicating in the most difficult moments." She also questioned their "lack of kindness and sensitivity" towards those who did participate in the extinction efforts and called the assertion that their participation could have contributed to resolving the emergency "a huge lie."

The regional government maintains that the workers abandoned the parks and checkpoints assigned to them to concentrate at the General Directorate of Emergencies and that they should remain there awaiting instructions from those responsible for the operation. The Community defends that this is a mobilization procedure used for more than 20 years and that each professional previously knew their destination.

The workers offer a different version. They assure that they went to their post daily and that they demanded, both by telephone and by registration, their activation to be able to intervene in the Almorox fire. During one of those days, they disseminated a video from the Emergency facilities to denounce that they had been hours without being able to work. "We have no vehicles, no trucks, no tools. They have us paralyzed," one of the collective's members affirmed then.

The strike committee maintains that these requests were not attended to and that the personnel remained during their shifts in a room without having means to move. The forest firefighters defend that they were prepared to join the operation while other parks demanded reinforcements and even considered the possibility of moving by their own means. The Community, for its part, considered that this action was not compatible with the coordination and safety conditions necessary during an emergency.

The conflict affects a specific group within the extinction device. The nearly 450 workers of the brigades managed by Tragsa, who also participated in the operation, suspended their strike at the end of May to rejoin the fire-fighting efforts. The professionals who now maintain the dispute with the regional government belong to the public labor staff and, according to them, carry out tasks related to extinction despite being classified in categories such as driver or maintenance technician.

Their demands fundamentally involve achieving specific professional recognition, greater stability, and the improvement and equalization of certain working conditions. While the workers demand concrete advances and the full application of regulations, the Community of Madrid maintains that it has held meetings with the collective and has proposed improvements within the possibilities allowed by the legal framework.

After more than three years of conflict, the Forest Firefighters of Madrid have once again focused on their demands and have taken advantage of the coverage of 'Mañaneros 360' to publicly demand that their labor situation and their demands be heard.