More than 1,000 people have been evacuated as a result of a wildfire that has consumed over 10,000 hectares in the Vall de Ebo in the province of Alicante in southeast Spain.
According to reports, the Saturday night lightning-sparked wildfire is being fought by 300 firefighters.
According to a story in the Daily Mail, the regional government of Valencia, as represented by its interior minister, Gabriela Bravo, said that the fire had spread quickly due to strong winds.
“It’s been a very complicated night,” Bravo told reporters, saying some 300 firefighters were battling the flames, backed by 24 planes and helicopters.
“At the moment we are talking about more than 9,500 hectares burnt with a perimeter of 65 kilometers (40 miles),” regional president Ximo Puig said late Monday, describing the blaze as “absolutely huge”.
“It’s a very complicated situation… The fire is creating enormous difficulties that are absolutely impossible to tackle with the speed we would like.”
Officials reported that hundreds of firefighters and at least 10 firefighting planes were working to put out two other flames that were raging north of Valencia City.
Firefighters in the Aragon area, farther north, were working to put out another large fire that started on Saturday and destroyed more than 6,000 hectares of land while displacing at least 1,500 people.
According to the most recent data from the European Forest Fire Information System, Spain has had 391 wildfires that have consumed a total of 271,020 hectares of land. These fires were sparked by extreme heat and a drought.
