Alex Trelinski
PRIME MINISTER Pedro Sanchez visited Castellon province on Monday to get a first-hand view on the fire that has ravaged 4,000 hectares and forced the evacuation of around 1,800 people with extra homes being cleared in the afternoon.
The blaze started on Thursday in Villanueva de Viver and Sanchez – accompanied by Valencian president Ximo Puig- made a flying visit to a command point in Barracas which is coordinating the fight to bring the fire under control.
Sanchez stressed that ‘it is a fire more typical of summer’ and ‘has to do with the climate emergency that impacts the Iberian Peninsula’.
“We are facing summer temperatures and summer fires,” he said.
“There is no room for denial because the climate emergency causes dramas and damage like the one we are experiencing,” commented Sanchez.
He vowed to replant all the forest that has been damaged and to provide aid to affected businesses.
Ximo Puig, said the fire was causing problems across a 40 kilometre area as strong winds are inhibiting measures to extinguish it as it continues to threaten towns like Montan.
As of 3pm, three additional municipalities have been ordered to evacuate as a precaution- namely Torralba del Pinar; Pavias: and Higueras, plus people have been told to stay at home in Caudiel.
The Puebla de Arenoso, Montan, Villanueva de Viver, Montanejos, Fuente la Reina and Arañuel were the first municipalities to be evacuated, between last Thursday and Friday.
Puig and Sanchez both praised families who are providing accommodation to evacuated households and also acknowledged the work of firefighters, with 14 suffering minor injuries since Thursday.
