(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.
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 high difficulty fire accompanied by weather conditions similar to those of summer”. .
The same source said the 1,500 residents had to leave their homes on Friday. Firefighters said the 700 men fighting the fire are assisted by around 20 aerial devices.
“The fire is 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 black 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).
