MADRID: Spanish firefighters continued battling a new wildfire front near the eastern coastal city of Valencia on Sunday, forcing the evacuation of at least 15,000 people as extreme heat, dry conditions and strong winds intensified fires across the country.
Authorities in the Valencia region said the blaze remained out of control, with flames spreading across a 21-kilometre perimeter. Regional President Juanfran Perez Llorca said firefighters were facing significant challenges in containing the wildfire and that the full extent of the damage had yet to be determined.
“The fire is beyond our capacity to extinguish,” Llorca told reporters, adding that around 15,000 residents had been evacuated as a precaution.
The latest emergency comes as Spain continues to battle multiple wildfires. Authorities on Saturday ordered fresh evacuations around Toledo, southwest of Madrid, where strong winds pushed flames into new areas, complicating firefighting efforts.
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More than 60,000 people have already been evacuated from areas west of Madrid, where international assistance, including firefighting aircraft from Portugal and Italy, has been deployed to help Spanish crews contain the blazes.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said emergency services remained focused on protecting lives and limiting the spread of the fires.
One person has been reported dead in a separate wildfire in eastern Spain, while authorities continue to assess the impact of the ongoing emergency.
The wildfires have coincided with a wider crisis across southwestern Europe. In neighbouring France, around 250,000 people have been evacuated from homes and campsites as massive fires continue to burn, marking one of the country’s largest peacetime evacuations.
