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Date Published: 27/03/2023

ARCHIVED - Spanish forest fire rages on, but the outlook is encouraging

ARCHIVED ARTICLE -

Over 1,000 people are still unable to get back to their houses as firefighters battle the blaze

<span style='color:#780948'>ARCHIVED</span> - Spanish forest fire rages on, but the outlook is encouraging

The forest fire declared last Thursday in the border area of the eastern Spanish provinces of Castellón and Teruel, the first big wildfire of 2023, is still smouldering away. The fire has spread rapidly through the territory and both air and land firefighting crews are currently in the area trying to stop it from getting too out of hand.

So far, over 3,800 hectares of land have been burned up in the two provinces in Spain’s autonomous communities of Valencia and Aragón, and the affected perimeter is more than 40 square kilometres.

As of this Monday March 27, the fire is being contained and the affected area has not grown. Although it is still not under control, the outlook for battling the flames over the coming days is said to be positive with the help of planes and helicopters.

#IFVillanuevadeViver
Extraordinaria labor, como siempre, de nuestros compañeros del #43Grupo @EjercitoAire cargando agua en el embalse de Puebla de Arenoso para atacar el incendio en la zona Montanejos.#Corsarios pic.twitter.com/QgzkNrhsIz
— UME (@UMEgob) March 26, 2023

The fire has not damaged any special protected natural sites, although it has affected lands belonging to the Natura 2000 Network, and about 1,500 of the nearly 2,000 people who had to be evacuated are still not allowed to return to their homes.

Spanish President Pedro Sánchez and the President of the Valencian Community, Ximo Puig, have visited the command post in Barracas to learn how the firefighting is progressing.

While forest fires happen all over Spain every year, mostly in summer, this one has come unusually early and has grown bigger than normal for this time of year as a result of the extreme temperatures we have been having recently.

What caused Spain’s first forest fire of 2023?

The first column of smoke was observed at noon on Thursday March 23 in the municipality of Villanueva de Viver, in the province of Castellón, an area with mountain routes and high risk of depopulation.

Specifically, the fire originated in a ravine with a large forest mass surrounded by woods and began to spread rapidly due to the high temperatures and the winds that were sweeping through the region.

The main hypotheses about the cause of the fire are a poorly managed and controlled agricultural fire or a spark flying off some farm machinery, according to José María Ángel, regional secretary of Security and Emergencies of the Generalitat Valenciana.

However, the investigations into the causes of the fire are still open, since this hypothesis is still being studied and therefore “cannot be established as the definitive cause of the fire”.

The towns of Montanejos, La Alquería de Montanejos, Arañuel, La Artejuela, Montán, Fuente La Reina, Los Calpes, Puebla de Arenoso, Los Cantos and La Monzona have all had to be evacuated. In Teruel, the municipality of Olba and several towns of San Agustín have also had to be evacuated as a preventive measure.

According to Red Cross estimates, almost 2,000 people were evacuated from the area and housed in shelters and sports centres, and the majority have still not been able to return home.

Images: Emergències 112CV

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