Global Courant 2023-05-19 15:13:34
In the Extremadura region, up to 1,500 hectares are on fire. Windy weather complicates efforts to control it.
A wildfire in western Spain’s Extremadura region has ravaged up to 1,500 hectares (3,700 acres) and forced 550 people from their homes in windy weather, complicating efforts to bring it under control, emergency services said.
“They are very strong gusts of wind that generate a speed and progress that make extinguishing difficult,” military emergency unit commander David Barona told state television channel 24H on Friday.
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“The plume of smoke is spreading at low altitudes, making it difficult for air forces to access the area.”
Up to 250 firefighters are fighting the fire in an area called Pinofranqueado, in the province of Caceres, near the border with Portugal.
Authorities have ordered the evacuation of as many as 550 people in the villages of Cadalso, Descargamaría and Robledillo de Gata.
Natural causes fueled the fire, authorities said.
“It’s a very big attack on the vegetation and the area,” Extremadura’s head of emergency services, Nieves Villar, told reporters.
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An unusually dry winter in parts of southern Europe after three years of below-average rainfall in Spain has increased the risk of wildfires.
About 493 fires destroyed a record 307,000 hectares (about 760,000 acres) in Spain last year, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.
Up to 250 firefighters fight the blaze in an area called Pinofranqueado, in the province of Caceres (Spanish Ministry of Defense via EPA)
