Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Planes battle raging forest fires in Spain
AFP News
Firefighters in planes and helicopters on Saturday battled to
finish off forest blazes that have ravaged hundreds of hectares of
land in northeastern Spain, officials said.
The fire service in the Catalonia region, where the wind-fanned
blazes started on Thursday, said one in the coastal Girona
province remained "active" while four others in nearby Lerida
province were being brought under control.
"The aeroplanes and helicopters are still working" dumping water
on the blazes in both areas and all but a few of the 200 or so
people evacuated have returned home, said a fire service
spokeswoman who asked not to be named.
"It is expected that all the people will be able to return home in
the next few hours," the spokeswoman said on early Saturday
afternoon.
Firefighters were also battling a sixth blaze in the neighbouring
region of Aragon, where authorities said 100 people were evacuated
near the town of Castanesa.
"This morning the airborne teams continued working intensively,
making the most of more favourable weather conditions," the Aragon
government said in a statement Saturday, after the wind that
fanned the flames dropped.
Spain is struggling through its driest winter since the 1940s,
according to the national weather office. Crops have dried up and
the familiar summer fires have come months early.
The Catalonia fire service said the blazes had burned 500 hectares
(1,200 acres) of land in Girona alone, revising down earlier
estimates.
The regional authorities in Aragon said on Friday that flames
there had ravaged 1,100 hectares.
Evacuated families have been housed in neighbours' homes or
hotels.
The Catalonia government said in a statement that the situation of
the fire in Girona was developing "favourably" on Saturday since
the wind had shifted to the south.
But the fire spokeswoman cautioned: "It is forecast that this
afternoon the wind could blow again from the north. It could could
come back again stronger."