MADRID: Firefighters backed by security forces battled a huge wildfire in western Spain on Friday that has forced hundreds of citizens to evacuate from nearby villages, officials said.
The fire, which erupted Wednesday near the Pinofranqueado village in the sparsely populated Extremadura, was set “intentionally”, Begona Garcia, the region’s agriculture minister, told journalists.
Spain’s Department of Homeland Security said that at least 550 people from different villages have been evacuated due the risk of the blaze.
The statement added that the battle against the flames was evolving unfavourably, in great extent to the strong winds.
The regional government said that more than 275 professionals backed by forteen water aircraft were working to extinguish the flames.
The firefighting team included about 165 soldiers from Spain’s army emergencies unit UME.
UME commander David Barona said that there are very strong winds, which are making it very hard to extinguish the fire.
He estimated the fire had so far ravaged up to nearly 1,500 hectares of land.
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a tweet that he was following the situation very closely.
Spain hit by drought
Spain, which is hit by long-term drought after 3 years of below-average rainfall, has faced multiple wildfires already this year.
Last year, a specially bad year for wildfires in Europe, Spain was the region’s worst-hit country. About 500 fires destroyed over 300,000 hectares, according to the data of European Forest Fire Information System. –AFP
