A strong wind reaching up to 70 km / ha revived, Monday evening, the flames of the first major forest fire of the year in Spain, complicating the work of firefighters despite the mild temperatures (19 ° C).
“We have to be careful because the fire remains very active,” Gabriela Bravo, regional head of internal affairs for the Valencia region, told reporters. “Our main enemy was the weather. She didn’t help at all, the wind kindled the fire.
The fire has ravaged some 4,300 hectares since Thursday, mainly forest, and forced 1,800 people to flee their homes. Three villages with a total of some 80 inhabitants – Higueras, Pavias and Torralba del Pinar – were the last to be evacuated on Monday, according to the emergency services.
More than 500 firefighters are fighting the fire, which broke out near the village of Villanueva de Viver (province of Castellon, east), where the unusual temperature for the season approached 30°C on Friday. Twenty-three water bomber planes and helicopters were mobilized before nightfall.
Spain, European country most affected by fires
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited the affected region. “We are barely emerging from winter and we are already dealing with typical summer fires and this is clearly due to the climate emergency that the world is facing,” he stressed.
Authorities believe that the fire season in Spain, until recently limited to summer, now runs from spring to autumn.
The country is experiencing a long drought, after three years of below-average rainfall. In 2022, a dark year for forest fires in Europe, Spain was the most affected country on the continent, with nearly 500 fires that ravaged more than 300,000 hectares, according to the European Fire Information System of forest (Effis).
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Climate change is worsening droughts, creating the perfect conditions for wildfires to spiral out of control and inflict unprecedented material and environmental damage.