Evacuated Villagers Tell How Spain's Forest Fire Forced Them To Leave Animals

A fire in Monte Pino burned parts of the countryside

By Guillermo Martínez

BARACAS, Spain (Reuters) - Spain's first major fire of the year has burned 4,000 hectares (9,900 acres) of forest and driven 1,500 residents from their homes in the Valencia region.

A helicopter drops water on the Los Calpes fire

Neighbors said they fled the house, leaving the animals behind.

"Bad, how do I feel? Your city is on fire, your life is on fire, our animals were there and no one can tell us anything," said Antonio Jarzoso, 24, who had to leave the city of Puebla de Sandy. .

In Spain, the first major fire of the year is burning

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More than 500 firefighters, supported by 20 planes and helicopters, are working to stop the blaze near the town of Villanueva de Vivar, emergency services said on Saturday.

However, it was possible to prevent the fire from spreading to other areas.

"The surrounding forest is burning and we don't know exactly what the area is like," Los Calpes' Montse Boronat told Reuters.

Valencia region president Jimo Puig told reporters that summer temperatures of around 30 degrees Celsius make fires "sensitive".

According to the regional newspaper Las Provincias, police believe the fire was started by a spark from a weed harvesting machine.

The Spanish Guardia Civil spokesman said they were investigating the cause of the fire.

In Spain, the first major fire of the year is burning

the next

An unusually dry winter in parts of southern Europe has raised concerns that last year's devastating fires could repeat themselves.

The weather on Spain's northeastern Mediterranean coast will be drier and hotter than usual this spring, increasing the risk of wildfires, meteorological agency AEMET said last week.

According to the European Commission (EC), around 785,000 hectares were destroyed in Europe last year, more than double the annual average for the past 16 years.

In Spain, 493 fires destroyed a record 307,000 hectares of land, according to the Commission's European Forest Fire Information System.

(Reporting by Graham Kiely, editing by Jason Neely and Frances Carey)