HUNDREDS of people were evacuated from their homes after a fast-moving wildfire ripped through Andalucia’s Huelva province – the third in 24 hours.
More than 380 residents in Villanueva de las Cruces received phone alerts urging them to evacuate after a wildfire broke out near El Cerro de Andevalo on Wednesday.
Another 350 people had previously been evacuated amid a raging blaze in Almonaster la Real on Tuesday, while a separate fire in Lucena del Puerto was finally extinguished at 11.30pm the same day.
More than 100 firefighters and several fire engines are battling the flames in Huelva after Andalucian authorities placed the area under Operational Situation 1 (‘Situación Operativa 1′).
The alert level means the fire can be tackled using Andalucia’s resources alone, while requiring authorities to take steps to protect the population.
It comes as Spain reels from multiple active fire fronts across the country, with emergency services still battling blazes in Guadalajara, Leon, Avila, Soria, Segovia and Encinar del Alberche, near Madrid.
READ MORE: Andalucia records more than 40% of last summer’s wildfires as high-risk season continues
More than 1,200 square kilometres of countryside have already been lost to fire this year, according to the EU’s fire monitoring system, Copernicus.
The figure is two and a half times the average for the past 20 years.
The Guadalajara wildfire alone – Spain’s largest this year and the second-largest in the country’s recorded history – has scorched 320 square kilometres since breaking out a week ago.
Hundreds of residents were evacuated from their homes across 34 towns in the affected area, while some 200 firefighters continued tackling the blaze late on Wednesday.
Authorities said on Thursday that emergency responders had finally been able to begin containing the fire.
READ MORE: Seven Britons and one US national among 13 dead after devastating Almeria wildfire
Spain has already suffered 348 fires this year, according to Copernicus – 18 more than last year, which was the country’s worst for wildfires after nearly 4,000 square kilometres went up in flames by December 31.
As of early this week, 22 of this year’s fires had been classified as ‘major’, meaning they each affected at least five square kilometres.
In early July, a deadly blaze in Almeria province killed 13 people – 12 of them expats, including seven Brits – and forced more than 1,500 to evacuate their homes.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Guadalajara on Wednesday as firefighters continued battling the blaze, calling on all political parties to come together in the fight against climate change.
“Year after year we clearly see how climate change kills and destroys wealth in our communities,” he said.
“This is not politics. It is science. It is about facts.”
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