Firefighters battling a huge wildfire in northeastern Spain had another challenging night on Friday as shifting winds fanned flames and reignited the fire in some areas.
The fire in Orés in Zaragoza has already razed more than 15,400 hectares, and its perimeter has expanded to over 80 kilometres, as firefighting efforts continue to be hampered by the wind, the difficult terrain, and the proximity of populated areas.
The government has said that it will issue alerts for other municipalities, such as Biota, Castiliscar, Urriés, Navardún, and Sos del Rey Católico, in case further evacuations are necessary in addition to the six that have already been carried out, Spanish media reported on Saturday.
On Saturday, the wind would again be the main problem in curbing the fire’s spread.
“It’s going to blow in all directions,” said Roberto Bermúdez de Castro, the Aragonese Minister of Emergency Services, according to Spanish media.
“In the morning it will be from the south, warm and dry; in the afternoon it will change direction, but we’ll have low humidity and high temperatures, which will make it difficult to extinguish the fire again,” he said.
For this reason, he said he didn’t want to “raise false hopes”.
The blaze has sparked alarm and continued to grow since starting in a rural part of the Aragon region on Wednesday, a week after the country’s deadliest such disaster in recent history.
More than 400 firefighters backed by army reinforcements have been deployed and a handful of small villages evacuated.
The lowest yellow warning for heat was in place for Aragon on Saturday, with temperatures predicted to peak at 36C.
MAP: How to find out where Spain’s wildfires are
Scientists say human-driven climate change is increasing the length, intensity and frequency of extreme heat, which creates favourable conditions for the spread of wildfires and complicates firefighting efforts.
Emergency services shared aerial images of the wildfire eating away at expanses of forests and fields.
Fire engines were confronted with a tall wall of flames that had engulfed the vegetation.
Regional leader Jorge Azcon said on X that King Felipe VI had called him to “enquire about the evolution of the fire” and “send encouragement to the entire firefighting team”.
In the central province of Guadalajara, a growing wildfire that began on Thursday forced authorities to evacuate 11 villages and deploy more than 350 firefighters.
The blaze had devoured more than 2,000 hectares and entered the mountainous Sierra Norte natural park, a protected space that is home to threatened eagle, wolf and butterfly species.
Spain is still reeling from last week’s fire in the southern Andalusia region that killed 13 people — including seven Britons and an American — and destroyed 7,000 hectares.
Deadly wildfires devoured almost 400,000 hectares of land in Spain last year, the highest figure recorded for the country by the European Forest Fire Information System.
