Level 1 alert issued for Cerro del Castillo blaze in Madrid with residents evacuated

The Guardia Civil has evacuated residents in the vicinity of the Cerro del Castillo blaze in the Community of Madrid.

As reported today, Tuesday, July 12, by Emergencies 112, residents from the El Reajo del Roble neighbourhood, in the Madrid municipality of Collado Mediano, have been evacuated.

The Guardia Civil asked them to abandon their homes due to the threat posed by the close proximity of flames from a fire that is raging through the Cerro del Castillo area this afternoon.

Several ground crews, assisted by helicopters from the Community of Madrid firefighters, as well as brigades of forest agents, have been working at the site since around 4pm when the fire broke out.

#IFColladoMediano Incendio de vegetación en #ColladoMediano. M601 altura km 8. Intervienen ya #bomberoscm , #brigadasforestalescm #agentesforestalescm y medios aéreos. Activada situación 1 #INFOMA22 @guardiacivil evacúa la urbanización el Reajo. pic.twitter.com/3Qs9qdmeIN

— 112 Comunidad de Madrid (@112cmadrid) July 12, 2022

In accordance with the Infoma protocol, a Level 1 alert has been put into place. Cerro del Castillo suffered a similar outbreak back in 2009 when a huge fire destroyed more than 36 hectares of forest.

This incident was later found to have been an act of arson, probably through the use of a lighter or similar, to ignite a pile of dry branches and plant debris that had accumulated from the work of clearing and cleaning a power line.

The Community of Madrid is one of the regions most affected by the heat wave this week, with temperatures reaching to around 40°C in the community, as reported by larazon.es.

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