(Madrid) About 700 Spanish firefighters were battling the first major forest fire of the year on Saturday, which spiraled out of control 48 hours after it started and led to the evacuation of 1,500 people from a town north of Valencia , in the east of the country.
The regional emergency services said on Twitter that the fire, which has already covered 3,900 hectares in Villanueva de Viver, 90 km north of Valencia, was “a fire of high difficulty accompanied by weather conditions similar to those of summer”. .
The same source indicated that the 1,500 inhabitants had to leave their homes on Friday. The firefighters indicated that the 700 men who fight the fire are assisted by about twenty aerial vehicles.
PHOTO JOSE JORDAN, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A helicopter feeds overhead to put out fires in Los Peiros.
“The fire has not stabilized and continues with great ferocity due to the weather conditions which are almost summery,” said Ximo Puig, president of the Valencia region, on Spanish television RTVE.
In 2022, a dark year for forest fires in Europe, Spain was the most affected country on the continent, with nearly 500 fires that ravaged more than 300,000 hectares, according to the European Fire Information System. of forest (Effis).