A MASSIVE wildfire has scorched 12,000 hectares of forest and farmland in northern Spain as authorities scramble to bring the blaze under control.
More than 450 firefighters and 30 aircraft are battling the flames after around 700 people were evacuated from their homes in the Aragonese towns of Ores, Asin, Luesia and Malpica de Arba, in Zaragoza province.
Local authorities had earlier warned the fire would be difficult to contain as 40km/h winds continued to fan the flames, with at least 10 properties in Asin already damaged by the inferno.
On Thursday, firefighters from the regional Infoar service and Spain’s Military Emergency Unit (UME) described terrifying moments after being surrounded by flames near Ores while tackling the blaze overnight.
“They had to leave quickly because the flames were reaching them,” said Roberto Bermudez de Castro, Aragon’s interior minister.
“Some of their vehicles even suffered significant damage from the intense heat.”
Aragon officials have estimated it will take days to fully extinguish the fire.
More than 65,000 hectares have already gone up in flames across Spain this year, according to data from the EU’s Copernicus fire monitoring system.
That figure is more than double the total recorded by the same date in 2025, which went on to become Spain’s worst wildfire year on record, with nearly 400,000 hectares burned by December 31.
READ MORE: Seven Britons and one US national among 13 dead after devastating Almeria wildfire
The Ministry for the Ecological Transition (MITECO) said 15 large wildfires—defined as those burning more than 500 hectares—have already been recorded since the start of 2026, twice the average for the past two decades.
Experts say climate change, rising temperatures and successive heatwaves are major drivers of the trend, arguing that Spain’s wildfire strategy should place greater emphasis on prevention rather than response.
Spain’s central government and the Andalucian regional government announced ambitious new firefighting programmes this year, pledging unprecedented investment in cutting-edge firefighting technology and highly specialised response teams.
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