José Antonio Bruña is positioned on a elevated area near the tiny community of a northwestern Spanish locale.
He points to the precise spot where lightning struck a few periods earlier, causing a inferno with catastrophic consequences.
"This season has been a disaster for me personally, but also for regional agriculturists and everyone in this area," he says. "Having lived 47 years and I've never witnessed a fire that violent."
The blaze destroying in excess of 20,000 square meters of land and forcing a multitude of people to be evacuated from towns in this rural corner of the Iberian northwest.
Yet it constituted just one among many vast blazes which have devastated Spain this summer, destroying 0.8% of the country's landmass.
The most heavily affected zones were here in the northwestern quadrant, including the territories of Castilla y León and a coastal area, plus the westerly region of Extremadura.
Impact on Apiculture
Beekeeping, which is an vital industry in non-urban the northwestern territories, was one of the key casualties of the summer.
Thankfully, his personal apiaries are undamaged, because the fire ceased just a short distance away from the plots where he houses them.
"I estimate that this year I'm going to miss out on 50% of my honey output, without a doubt, because of the fires, and the subsequent year the same, or even more damaging," the producer says.
The absence of physical damage to his hives means he does not qualify for insurance.
He is contemplating moving many of them to different areas, in the hope of improving the bees' prospects of survival and reducing his future losses.
Cattle Ranchers Also Affected
Many livestock farmers have also been compelled to move their animals in recent weeks, both to avoid fires and to ensure they can access undamaged pasture.
"The situation was dire for farmers [this summer], it was an endless cycle of infernos," says Fernando García from a border village.
He suffered the death of around 30 cattle this summer, most recently having to put down 11 animals which had experienced severe burns.
"The situation has had a big economic impact, but the largest impact of all is that we can't sleep at night," he notes. "This is a constant anxiety."
Although farmers expect to receive insurance payouts, he believes there will be a knock-on cost.
"Insurance could cover us, but next year, instead of costing us, for example, €5,000, insurance rates will cost €10,000 or €15,000," he says. "As insurance companies don't want to lose money."
Economic Cost and Visitor Sector Losses
A farming organization assessed in August that the industry had incurred damages worth at least €600m.
The biggest costs have been burned fields and properties and losses of animals.
Another main economic sufferer of this summer's fires has been tourism, which represents 13% of Spanish GDP.
Even if most of the coastal areas associated with tourism escaped fires this summer, the southmost province of Cádiz was an anomaly.
And this summer's main wildfire hotspots, in the west and north-west, have fostered rural tourism in recent years.
The largest glacial lake, the largest glacial body of water in the the peninsula, is a major local attraction.
However the advance of the fire that began in the village in August caused it to be evacuated.
"In August, this area was at maximum occupancy in terms of tourism," says a local official. "However, on 18 August, it dropped down to 10% of capacity."
For holidaymakers this was problematic. But for many inhabitants it equated to financial disaster.
"The regional government has said it will pay me €5,500," he says, sarcastically. "They must come up with some other kind of payment because I was opposed to close, they forced me to."
Wider Social Repercussions
The recent season has emphasized the well-known divide between metropolitan and non-urban Spain.
Decades of movement from rural areas to urban hubs means that 90% of the Spanish population now inhabits just 30% of its country.
The other part has become known as "empty Spain", where a thin population has often expressed frustration about a lack of infrastructure.
The wildfires, which have been particularly uncontainable this year, only exacerbate that dissatisfaction.
"It's hard enough as it is to survive because of the expense of animal feed and fuel – every day it's more challenging for farmers to get by," he says. "Furthermore, this happens."
