The fire ritual is repeated one more year. In a few hours, the flames have consumed the nearly 800 Fallas monuments planted in the streets of Valencia and other Valencian municipalities in 2026, putting an end to Fallas that are less crowded than other years when the big days fall during the week, with good weather and without major setbacks. Many of the monuments have launched this edition a message of hope and anti-war through satire and humor.
He doll that represents Donald Trump has been the great protagonist in a multitude of Fallas scenes, sometimes accompanied by Putin or Netanyahu, while in national politics Ábalos and Koldo have been on the verge of stealing the classic satirical protagonism of Pedro Sánchez, Alberto Núñez Feijóo and Santiago Abascal, all without forgetting the world of sports and entertainment, classics in this ephemeral art that puts everything in perspective.
It has been a year in which it has been difficult to find references – direct or indirect – to the dana, which in 2025 was the main thematic protagonist both for its solidarity aspect and for its criticism of the political anger that it generated and the judicial case that investigates the management of a tragedy that left 230 dead after devastating part of the province.
The vast majority of the large monuments began to burn around ten at night, half an hour later it was the turn of this year’s winning falla, Redemption! of the Jerusalem Convent-Matemático Marzal commission. The last one that succumbed to the flames was the municipal falla, which this year had as its motto Hope (Hope) and that has through the figure of a Charlotte Dressed as a soldier, 27 meters tall, he has sent a message against war to the world. In just a few minutes, it burned very quickly, the tall figure was consumed before the eyes of Carmen Prades, Valencia’s biggest faller, and her court of honor, who witnessed the spectacle from the balcony of the City Hall.
A few hours before, at 8:00 p.m., the children’s Fallas were burned, half an hour later this year’s winner of the Special section, Espartero-Gran Vía Ramón y Cajal, and at 9:00 p.m. the municipal one, which represents the entire city and is out of competition.
The municipal Fire Department has mobilized a special device with more than 300 personnel who ensure the safe development of the city throughout the night. Night of Cremà. The operation has the collaboration of agents from the Castellón Provincial Consortium and the Alicante consortium, as well as a hundred Civil Protection volunteers, who reinforce prevention and security tasks throughout the day.
During the night, firefighters supervise the combustion of a total of 95 Fallas monuments spread throughout the city, which are the most at risk due to their location (in small squares, in areas with trees, or close to homes and historical monuments), or because they have high-rise finishes or complex structures. Among them are emblematic fallas such as those of Na Jordana, El Pilar, Convento Jerusalem, Mercado Central or Mercado del Cabanyal, among others. These will be burned in a staggered manner so that firefighters can reach all of them.
The festival has completed a decade since it was declared Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO. They have also been Fallas where, once again, the excesses of the festivals organized in an already saturated historic center of the city have come to light. In addition to the criticism from merchants for the large number of authorized street stalls, there are complaints from residents about the early deployment of tents where the largest committees celebrate most of their more domestic events. Some of them were already installed in the streets on March 4, 11 days before the start of the big week.
The cleaning operation, which this year has cost 3.2 million, faces the enormous task of trying to return the streets to their daily appearance in the next few hours, with all that this implies given the residual impact left by pyrotechnics, tourism, incivility and festivals, in addition to the ashes of nearly 800 fallas.
