Madrid, Jul 17 (EFE) .- The fire continues to devastate thousands of hectares in Spain in forest fires from end to end of the country, which keep rural populations on edge while an important device with the support of the Army tries to put out the flames, in the middle of a heat wave that keeps the thermometer above 40 degrees centimeters.
Some fires have been active for days, such as the one that has burned some 9,000 hectares in Monsagro (northwest) since last Monday, where the weather conditions make extinction tasks difficult and on this day the wind forced the aerial means that fight against the fire, according to emergency service sources.
The region in which this area is located, Castilla y León, has registered 165 fires in the last week.
The proximity of the flames makes it necessary to evacuate rural towns in different parts of the country, in cases such as Candeda in the Galicia region (northwest), where the fire burned some houses, in addition to destroying some 1,100 hectares.
The Military Emergency Unit collaborates in the work to put out several fires in this region, where forest fires total 4,430 hectares burned in recent days.
At the other end of the country, in Catalonia (northeast), a similar situation is experienced in towns such as El Pont de Vilomara, where the fire burned at least 440 hectares of forest, including a natural park, and forced the evacuation of houses closer to the calls.
The emergency services asked the neighbors to go to the center of the population centers, with a “general confinement” so that they do not leave their homes due to the proximity of the fire, with a reception center set up for those who have to be evacuated.
Other fires show a somewhat better evolution, such as the one in the Sierra de Mijas in southern Spain, where many of the 3,000 evicted people were able to return to their homes although two sports pavilions are still set up as shelters with the support of the Red Cross.
CRITICAL HOURS
However, the authorities ask for caution, because firefighters face the “most critical” hours due to rising temperatures, in this area where the fire has covered a perimeter of 1,890 hectares since last Friday.
Those responsible for fighting the fire denounce that some of these fires are caused, such as the one declared last night in the Garganta de los Infiernos (east).
In the Extramadura region alone, where this natural area is located, the fire has burned some 6,000 hectares in recent days, in areas such as the Monfragüe National Park, one of the main natural spaces in Spain.
More than seven hundred residents were evacuated from ten population centers and some have been out of their homes for seven days.
The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, plans to travel to Extremadura this Monday to visit affected areas and check the extinction work on the ground.
The heat wave that almost the entire country is suffering after the entry of a mass of warm air from the Sahara leaves on its eighth day highs above 40 degrees in various parts of Spain.
The phenomenon has put three regions in the north of the country on red alert this Sunday for “extreme risk” of heat and another ten on notice for “major risk.”
This weekend the temperatures in almost the entire country have been around 40 degrees and for this Sunday the State Meteorological Agency predicted that it will reach 43 in points of Extremadura.
As this entity advanced to EFE, the specialists foresee that the heat wave will have a brief relief during Tuesday, although it is probable that a new rise in temperatures will start on Wednesday, with the potential continuation of this episode that is already considered « length”. EFE
