News / EU

Spanish firefighters over 130 fires in winter

Tuesday, 29 December 2015 5:42 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 29 December 2015 6:57 AM ]

A firefighter gathers hoses while fighting a forest fire near the Basque town of Berango, near Bilbao, northern Spain, December 28, 2015. (Photo by Reuters)

Hundreds of firefighters are battling more than 130 wind-fueled wildfires in northern Spain amid an unusual dry spell.

In Cantabria, local officials said 99 percent of the fires have been started deliberately. Some 400 firefighters and soldiers were working to contain 82 wildfires that have been burning in the region over the past week.

In the regions of Asturias and Basque Country, wildfires are being fueled by high winds of up to 110 kilometers (70 miles) an hour.

Two fires were also said to be raging in the northeastern region of Navarra, located along the border with France.

Cantabria’s regional government said at least 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of land of “extraordinary ecological value,” including two natural parks, has been destroyed.

“This threatens the present and future of Cantabria’s landscape,” head of the Cantabria regional government Miguel Angel Revilla said.
“There are arsonists, people with bad intentions who are taking advantage of weather conditions never seen before in Cantabria,” he said.

The fires are an unusual phenomenon in regions that skirt the rough seas of the Bay of Biscay and are normally rainy, especially in
winter.

The Spanish national weather office says winds will remain strong and temperatures above average in the coming days.

Spain’s forestry association head Raul de la Calle, however, said the fires do not yet pose a threat to inhabited areas.

A helicopter drops water on a forest fire in La Fresneda, near Oviedo, northern Spain, December 28, 2015. (Photo by Reuters)

More than 54,000 hectares (13,300 acres) of agricultural and forest land in Spain have been destroyed by fires so far this year.

The fires come as northern Spain has been witnessing a shortage of rain. The country is vulnerable to wildfires during its hot season. Its southern region or areas along the Mediterranean coast are more prone to wildfires.

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