2023-05-19 09:29:48
Spain
Hundreds of people evacuated due to forest fire
An official from the affected region, Extremadura, assured that the fire was “intentional”. The evolution of the fire is unfavorable, according to the firefighters, in particular because of the weather.
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The fire is progressing and its evolution “is unfavorable”, according to the National Security Directorate, which warned that the adverse weather conditions would continue in the coming hours.
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In western Spain, more than 550 people have been evacuated because of a major forest fire, authorities announced on Friday, who dispatched a military unit specializing in the fight against large fires. . The fire, which broke out on Wednesday near the town of Pinofranqueado, in the Extremadura region, not far from the border with Portugal, “spread overnight from Thursday to Friday” and caused the evacuation of these people in localities close to the fire, indicated the Directorate of National Security (DSN).
The fire is progressing and its evolution “is unfavorable”, added the DSN, which warned that the adverse weather conditions would continue in the coming hours.
More than a thousand hectares burned
As a sign of the seriousness of the situation, the government therefore dispatched nearly 165 soldiers from the Emergency Military Unit (UME), an army corps specializing in the management of natural disasters such as major fires, which joined the firefighters already engaged in the fight against the flames.
“There are fairly strong gusts of wind”, which “make it very difficult to put out the fire”, declared, on public television TVE, commander David Barona, of the UME, estimating that the flames had already burned, Friday morning, between 1000 and 1500 hectares.
Historic drought
According to the regional government of Extremadura, more than 275 professionals were engaged, Friday morning, in the fight against the fire, supported by aerial means. Begoña García, head of agriculture in the regional government, assured that the fire was “intentional”. The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, tweeted on Thursday evening that he was following “the evolution of the fire very closely”.
While summer has not yet started, Spain, facing a historic drought after three years of below-average rainfall, has already suffered several fires in recent weeks.
In 2022, a dark year for forest fires in Europe, it was the most affected European country, with nearly 500 fires that ravaged more than 300,000 hectares, according to the European Forest Fire Information System. forest.
(AFP)
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