Hundreds of firefighters tackle thousands of acres of wildfires destroying countryside across Spain

Matthew Bennett in the Spain Report: Spain has deployed twenty-nine firefighting aircraft and several Forest Fire Reinforcement Brigades to try to extinguish active wildfires across northern Spanish regions, according to a statement published by Spain’s Agriculture, Food & Environment Ministry. The latest estimates put the total damaged surface area at around 8,000 acres.

In the province of Guadalajara (Castilla La Mancha, north-east of Madrid), nine firefighting aircraft have been deployed to tackle blazes in the villages of Cogulludo, Aleas and Bustares. In the northern region of Navarra, six firefighting aircraft have been deployed from Navarra, La Rioja and Madrid to tackle a blaze near the small village of Ujué.

Spanish news agency Europa Press reports a further fourte
en firefighting aircraft and several dozen firefighters have been working since lunchtime Sunday to extinguish a forest fire in La Vall d’Uixò, in the eastern coastal province of Castellón (Valencia). Up to 100 people have been evacuated from their houses.

Spain’s Military Emergencies Unit (UME) sent troops to villages around Guadalajara, following a request from the regional government on Friday, after five wildfires took hold in the province at the end of the week. Two were especially active, “out of control” with a “very negative outlook”, and one reached the edges of the Sierra Norte national park....

Image from a 2009 fire in Spain, shot by Elvira S. Uzábal - elbeewa, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons 2.0 license