Spain fought on Friday against 14 great fires, while the authorities warned that the “meteorology” was going to be unfavorable “ To stop some fires that have already caused seven dead and burned an area equivalent to almost triple that of Madrid or all of London.
A 12 -day heat wave and the southern winds made firefighters face another difficult day in one of the worst summers for fires in the last 20 years, said Virginia Barcones, general director of Civil Protection and Emergencies.
“Right now the situation in the west of the country is extremely worrying”Said Barcones in RTVE.
In Galicia, Several fronts had joined to form an even larger fire that forced to close highways and the rail services that lead to the region.
The fires of the province of Ourense, in Galicia, spread to the adjoining province of Zamora. Although many people have been evacuated, some stayed to protect their homes.
“In the town there are several people have tractors and have made a firewall in a more flat and less mountain area”He told Reuters Loli Baz, a 52 -year -old teacher from Villanueva de la Sierra.
“We are waiting for the fire to try to stop it and not enter the houses of the town. “
Firefighters are trying to turn off fires in southern Europerevived by the prolonged heat wave that plagues the region.
The State Meteorology Agency warned of the extreme risk of fires in the north and west of the country, While the temperatures were expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius on the north coast, which would pour more firewood.
“Today it will be a very hard day, with extreme risk of new fires,” He wrote on the social network X the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez.
Fire spread rapidly
A fire near Molezuelas de la Carballeda, in the region of Castilla y León, which was one of the largest in the history of Spain, He had not advanced since Thursday, said Ángel Sánchez, head of the Fire Service of the region.
“We will continue working for stabilization,” said.
The conditions are promoting that the fires extend at speeds that imply that firefighters can soon lose control over them. The Mozyuelas fire spread at a given time at a rate of 4,000 hectares per hour, the government delegate in Castilla y León, Eduardo Diego, according to Europa Press, told the press.
A fire near Badajoz, in the Extremadura region, has burned 2,500 hectares in a few hours before being controlled, As told RTVE José Luis Quintana, Government Delegate in the region.
“The conditions have been very difficult, it is a very difficult situation to attack,” Quintana said.
Avincis, the largest emergency air service operator in Spain and Europe, He said he had registered a 50% increase compared to last year in flight hours dedicated to fire extinction operations in Spain and Portugal so far this season.
In oimbbra, Ourense, where three firefighters were seriously injureda man was arrested for causing a fire when using his tractor when he was prohibited, police said.
Two people were arrested on the Costa da Morte, In Galicia, for causing fires to illegally burning copper cables to extract the metal and sell itaccording to the Interior Ministry.
This year’s forest fires have so far burned more than 157,000 hectares, almost double the annual average since 2006, according to the Information Service on Forest Fire of the European Union.
