More than 130 fires burning across parts of Spain as Easter Week approaches

As Easter Week in Spain approaches, more than 130 fires have been recorded burning across parts of the country.

As Easter Week approaches in Spain, there were around 130 fires burning across various parts of the country as of 6pm this evening, Saturday, April 1. They are located in the autonomous communities of Asturias, Galicia, Cantabria, and Catalonia , where a lack of rain has raised concerns among the authorities, and residents.

According to the authorities, 96 fires have been located in Asturias, which have been either reduced or stabilized. In Cantabria, there are 38 active fires, two in Galicia, and another one near the protected area of ​​Sierra de Pandols in Tarragona .

In Asturias, the Government of the Principality has lowered the alert level for forest fires due to the stabilization of most of the fires declared in the community along with the favourable evolution of weather conditions, as reported by elespanol.com.

#IIFFAsturias #IFValdés localidad de #Barcia pic.twitter.com/c9kSgQ9QG6

— 112 Asturias (@112Asturias) April 1, 2023

The regional executive decreed the lowering of the Special Civil Protection Plan for Forest Fires (INFOPA) to a phase 1 emergency situation. At this level, the fires require the means, procedures and protocols of normal use with the application of special operatives for their extinguishing.

Me han enviado estas fotos de los incendios de Asturias durante la noche. Entre ellas , el Naranco y Covadonga rodeados por el FUEGO. HORRIBLE!!! Creo que provocar incendios forestales -terrorismo-tiene una pena de 1 a 5 años de cárcel. ¡Poco me parece! pic.twitter.com/7Qv0VnjSgM

— Jesús Soria (@JesusSoriaD) April 1, 2023

Around 70 fires in the Autonomous Community are currently ‘controlled and stabilized’, except for one fire registered in Parres and another in Belmonte de Miranda.

According to Oscar Rodriguez, the manager of the Emergency Service of the Principality of Asturias (SEPA), speaking at a press conference this afternoon, the support troops that have been deployed in the community, including members of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), are now beginning to be withdrawn.

He was accompanied by Adrian Barbon, the president of the Principality, with both men taking stock of the wave of fires that have affected the western area with particular virulence and forced the evacuation of nearly 400 people.

At the moment, only two fires, in Aballe in Parres, and Cutiellos in Belmonte de Miranda, have not yet stabilized. It is hoped though that with the arrival of rain they will be brought under control.

Both fires, according to the authorities, are showing a ‘favourable evolution’ and they have estimated that some 11,000 hectares have been affected in the western area and between 30 and 40 hectares on Monte Naranco, although a precise assessment of the damage has yet to be made.

The fires recorded over the last few days in the Principality have forced the evacuation of 375 people and the closure of roads. This included the A-8 for twelve hours, and also caused the burning of buildings such as granaries and stables, although no inhabited houses have been burnt, Rodriguez added.

Hoy nuestras #BuenasNoches van dirigidas a los afectados por los #incendios de las provincias de #Castellón y #Asturias 🔥

Ánimo y fuerza para ellos y los servicios de #emergencia 🚨 #StopIncendios #SomosTuPolicía pic.twitter.com/9fyuYr5pej

— Policía Nacional (@policia) March 31, 2023

Castellón and Teruel have also eased the problems of the last few days. The flames that devoured the region and caused the eviction of some 200 people and the destruction of 4,000 hectares are dying down. Police forces and firefighters in the area have managed to hold the blaze back, although it is still alive.

In Galicia, the Conselleria de Medio Rural reported that the fire which started last Tuesday in Cubilledo, in Baleira, which has devastated 1,400 hectares of that municipality and the neighboring municipalities of A Fonsagrada and Ribeira de Piquin, has been stabilized.

The Regional Ministry itself had already lowered the situation to alert level 2 this morning, as the danger to the population centers had subsidized. According to Angel Enrique Martinez-Puga, the mayor of Baleira, the firefighting teams are trying to cool the areas devastated by the fire, ‘cooling’ those places where the flames can be fanned and ‘very aware of the wind’.

With regard to the other three fires that started yesterday in the province of Lugo, the one in the parish of Vieiro, in the municipality of Viveiro, in A Mariña Lucense, remains stabilized after burning some 80 hectares.

Another fire has been brought under control in the municipality of Taboada, in the parish of Xian, where eight hectares were burned, while in Alfoz, in Lagoa, a fire that has already burned 90 hectares remains stabilized.

The fire declared on Wednesday, March 29, on the border between Puerto de Bejar in Salamanca and Caceres, continues to burn on the Extremadura side. This blaze was caused by the burning of chestnut tree pruning waste, according to sources from the Junta de Castilla y Leon. The two communities are working together to extinguish the blaze with ground and air resources.

Firefighters from the Generalitat have been fighting since midday in the province of Tarragona against a forest fire that broke out in the Pandols mountain range. This is a protected natural area included in the Natura 2000 network, in an area of ​​ravines with difficult access.

Sources from this body informed EFE that a total of 32 crews were currently working on the fire, of which 28 are on land, another two in seaplanes and the remaining two in helicopters. The fire, whose origin is unknown, affects an area of ​​ravines, ‘which makes it difficult’ to access the area and fight the flames, according to these sources.

In Cantabria, the fire-fighting teams have extinguished all the forest fires in the region except for two controlled outbreaks in Argueñabes in Camaleño, and Barrio in Vega de Liebana. Since 6am this Saturday no new fires have been started and since 7pm yesterday there have been four, according to the Government of Cantabria.

Guillermo Blanco, the Minister for the Environment, stressed that only ‘two hot spots’ remained thanks to the change that had occurred in the weather conditions. He said he hoped this will be maintained, along with the efforts of municipal firefighters.

“The rains last night, the lower intensity of the wind, and, above all, the work of the Cantabrian forest fire-fighting operation has meant that we now have better conditions”, he said.

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