MADRID: Spanish authorities evacuated 12 villages on Wednesday evening after a major wildfire broke out in a national park on the border with Portugal, while Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez warned of an extremely tense wildfire situation, reported German Press Agency (dpa).
The blaze erupted near the municipality of Fermoselle in the Arribes del Duero National Park in the north-western region of Castile and León. Authorities also imposed stay-at-home orders in two nearby villages because of the danger to residents, the regional government said.
Around 950 people were evacuated from the affected area, Spanish media reported. They included residents of a nursing home in Muga de Sayago, the Guardia Civil police force said in a post on X.
Sánchez discussed the wildfire situation with King Felipe VI during a meeting in Palma de Mallorca and later told reporters they had also spoken about the extreme fire risk caused by the heat.
Spain is currently battling 10 wildfires of varying intensity, Sánchez said, urging the public to exercise extreme caution as a new heatwave is expected to last until Sunday.
He also said Spain had asked the European Commission to establish a new European wildfire-fighting centre on the island of Mallorca.
Conditions were gradually improving in some parts of the country, with evacuation and movement restrictions being lifted in several areas.
However, about 9,500 people in the Madrid region remained unable to return to their homes. Authorities had stabilised a wildfire in the Sierra Norte area west of Madrid, as well as another in the neighbouring province of Toledo south-west of the capital. In the province of Ávila, all evacuation orders and movement restrictions had been lifted.
— BERNAMA-dpa
