Spain hit by its first major fire of 2023

Spain hit by its first major fire of 2023

First big fire of the year in Spain, in the Valencia region (west), not far from Castellon inland. Nearly 3,800 hectares have already gone up in smoke and the flames are threatening the Sierra de Espadan Natural Park. Climate change with temperatures that were too high for the season favored the spread of the fire.

With our correspondent in Madrid, Diane Cambon

With temperatures forecast at 30°C this weekend in the Valencia region and air humidity of 30% well below average, the forest of Castellon, made up of pines and cork oaks, is a real inferno.

Especially since the dry wood has accumulated throughout the winter. Nearly 1,500 people living in the small villages in the Aragon region, where the fire started, had to be evacuated as around 500 people try to put out the various fires on the ground and some 20 bomber planes from water were deployed.

However, the winds that blow at more than 30 km/h make the task of firefighters very difficult and very dangerous. Spain, which is ravaged by flames in summer, always experiences fires earlier in the year, in particular because of climate change.

Chronic droughts

The Iberian Peninsula suffers from chronic droughts. Since December, some regions around the Mediterranean have not received any precipitation.

To this are added the financial difficulties Spanish regions to hire firefighters during the winter months, whose job is to clean the forests of all dead wood in order to avoid fires from the first heat.

►Also read: Fires in Chile: highly flammable pine and eucalyptus crops

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