Firefighters in Spain made progress after a “positive night” against wildfires raging west of Madrid that have forced the evacuation of tens of thousands of people, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska said Tuesday.
Spain’s government declared a national emergency last week over some of the worst wildfires in the country’s history raging in fronts across the Madrid region, Avila province, Toledo and eastern Valencia.
“It has been a reasonably positive night, thanks to the tremendous effort of all the public emergency services,” Marlaska said in an interview with Spanish public television.
“We are in critical hours.”
Firefighters remain on high alert as meteorologists warn hotter temperatures, low humidity and stronger winds expected from Wednesday could complicate efforts to bring the blaze under control.
Authorities had been especially concerned on Monday about the state of the most critical front in an area north of — (delete “of”) the San Juan reservoir, about 70 km (45 miles) west of Madrid, but Marlaska said the outcome of the firefighting efforts overnight there “has been extremely positive”.
“Today we can be a little more reassured, especially given the weather conditions we expect to face over the coming hours,” he said.
The head of the regional government of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, said the “wildfire situation is gradually improving,” adding “we can be more optimistic today and begin planning the safe return of residents to several municipalities.”
According to the interior ministry figures, 63,000 people have been evacuated, nearly half of them in Madrid. But more than 4,000 had been allowed back home in the Toledo area on Monday.
Marlaska said the recent wildfires had burned 77,000 hectares. That figure brings to 175,000 hectares the total area burned so far this year in Spain, six times the area that was burned at the same time last year.
