First major forest fire of the year in Spain

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In the affected area on the border between the regions of Aragon and Valencia, some 1,500 people were evacuated from their homes between Thursday and Friday, state television channel RTVE reported, citing authorities.

More than ten towns in the provinces of Castellón and Teruel were hit Friday morning. The flames were “very voracious” from the start, Valencian government chief Ximo Puig told journalists. The destroyed forest area is equivalent to about 1400 football fields. There were numerous power failures, at least three country roads were closed on Friday.

“We were told to leave as soon as possible. We grabbed some pajamas and that was it,” a visibly concerned elderly woman told RTVE. The mayor of the 550-resident town of Montanejos affected by the evacuations, Miguel Sandalinas, admitted: “We are all very concerned.”

According to the weather service Aemet, extinguishing the flames was made difficult by strong winds, low humidity and relatively high temperatures of more than 20 degrees. According to official information, about 20 helicopters and firefighting planes and dozens of ground units from the fire brigade, the military emergency unit UME, the civil protection and the emergency service Samu were deployed on Friday.

2022 was the most devastating forest fire year for Spain since the European forest fire information system EFFIS started recording. According to measurements by the European Earth observation system Copernicus, an area of ​​no less than 306,000 hectares was destroyed in 493 major fires last year. That is more than 3000 square kilometers. For comparison: Saarland has an area of ​​almost 2570 square kilometers.

(SDA)

Source: Blick