Wildfire in central Spain burns through 500 hectares of forest

A burning forest fire in central Spain has destroyed more than 500 hectares of forest and scruptement, according to officials on Tuesday.

“The situation is not encouraging,” said Ángel Iglesias, technical director of fire fighting in the small town of Mombeltrán, about 95 kilometers west of Madrid.

The firefighters fought against the fire, which broke out late Monday on Monday, with planes and helicopters, while the crews on the ground worked to create fires to prevent flames from spreading further.

However, strong winds have continued to stir up the flames, some of which measured several meters high, said Iglesias, noting that there was a lot of flammable vegetation in the mountainous terrain.

The civil defense service announced on X that a firefighter died on the stage when his car left the road.

The region had just recovered from a devastating forest fire in 2009.

Experts have warned that many Spanish forests are not properly maintained and that excessive precipitation at the beginning of the year led to an accumulation of vegetation, which has dried up in the past few weeks.

“Forests are a powder barrel,” said forest expert Rosendo Castelló to the Vanguardia newspaper.

Over the past 50 years, the forest area has increased by around 20% because agricultural sites have been abandoned, he said.