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José Antonio Bruña stands on a slope near the remote village of a northwestern Spanish locale.

He references the very spot where a thunderbolt struck a few weeks earlier, causing a blaze with severe results.

"This season has been a nightmare for me personally, but also for nearby producers and everyone here," he says. "I'm 47 and I've never experienced a fire that intense."

The blaze destroying over 20,000 hectares of land and leading to numerous of people to be relocated from towns in this farming-heavy corner of Spain's northwest.

However, it represented just one of several extensive fires which have devastated Spain this summer, burning 0.8% of the country's landmass.

The worst-hit zones were here in the western north, including the territories of Castilla y León and another community, as well as the western region of Extremadura.

Effects on Apiculture

Honey production, which is an vital industry in rural the northwestern territories, was one of the primary casualties of the summer.

Fortunately, the beekeeper's colonies are undamaged, because the fire halted just a short distance away from the land where he keeps them.

"I calculate that this year I'm going to miss out on 50% of my honey output, as a minimum, because of the fires, and the next year the same, or even more damaging," the producer says.

The non-existence of physical damage to his hives means he cannot claim insurance.

He is contemplating moving many of them to different areas, in the expectation of bettering the bees' odds of survival and reducing his future losses.

Animal Herders Similarly Impacted

A great number of livestock farmers have also been forced to move their animals in the last month, both to evade fires and to make certain they can access unburned pasture.

"Things couldn't have been worse for farmers [this summer], it was a continuous series of blazes," says Fernando García from a border village.

His losses include around 30 livestock this summer, most recently having to euthanize 11 animals which had suffered severe burns.

"These events has had a big monetary impact, but the biggest impact of all is that we lie awake at night," he notes. "It's a constant tension."

While farmers expect to receive insurance compensation, he fears there will be a ripple cost.

"They may pay us, but next year, in place of costing us, for example, €5,000, insurance premiums will total €10,000 or €15,000," he says. "Because insurance companies don't want to lose money."

Monetary Cost and Tourism Declines

A farming organization calculated in August that the industry had suffered damages worth at least €600m.

The biggest costs have been destroyed fields and properties and deaths of animals.

The other main economic casualty of this summer's fires has been tourism, which accounts for 13% of Spanish GDP.

Even if most of the coastal areas which are tourism were spared fires this summer, the southern province of a tourist hotspot was an anomaly.

Additionally this summer's main wildfire zones, in the west and north-west, have cultivated rural tourism in recent times.

A major natural attraction, the biggest glacial reservoir in the the peninsula, is a major local landmark.

Yet the advance of the fire that began in Porto de Sanabria in August caused it to be shut down.

"At the height of summer, this area was at peak visitation in terms of tourism," says a local official. "Subsequently, on 18 August, it fell to 10% of capacity."

Among visitors this was problematic. But for many inhabitants it meant financial ruin.

"The administration has said it will pay me €5,500," he says, sarcastically. "They must come up with some other kind of reimbursement because I didn't want to close, they forced me to."

Wider Social Repercussions

The recent season has highlighted the well-known schism between city and countryside Spain.

Years of movement from rural areas to urban hubs means that 90% of the Spanish population now lives in just 30% of its land.

The remainder has become known as depopulated Spain, where a sparse population has often voiced discontent about a lack of infrastructure.

These blazes, which have been particularly difficult to manage this year, only worsen that dissatisfaction.

"It is difficult as it is to survive because of the expense of animal feed and fuel – every day it's more hard for farmers to make ends meet," he says. "Furthermore, this occurs."