WORK on battling three forest fires in Spain is continuing on Wednesday with the blaze in Vall d’Uixo in Castellon entering its fifth day and which is still advancing after destroying 10,000 hectares.

The intensity of blazes in the Madrid region and Avila province have decreased but there are concerns about a rise in temperatures that could hinder controlling them.

In Vall d’Uixo, air crews were expected to start work early on Wednesday, after two days where they could not take off until the afternoon due to the weather conditions and a thermal inversion.

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In Madrid, the better weather conditions at night have helped firefighters to reduce the intensity of the blaze and to stabilise its perimeter from extending further.

The Government Delegation in Madrid has emphasised caution for Wednesday given the size of the fire with a 250 kilometre perimeter- coupled with the startof a new heat wave.

Efforts will focus on securing the perimeter, monitoring new outbreaks and cooling the areas in order to stabilise the blaze before the weather makes things harder.

In Avila, Spain’s Secretary General for Civil Protection and Emergencies, Virginia Barcones, called for ‘a last effort’ to put an end to a ‘monster’ whose end is ‘getting closer and closer’.

The fire was the largest ever in Spain, destroying more than 50,000 hectares in the south of the province.

Also in the Castilla y Leon region, fire crews have worked throughout the night to extinguish a forest fire that started on Tuesday in the town of La Utrera- within the the municipality of Valdesamario.

The DGT Traffic authority says that 29 roads remain closed as of 8am on Wednesday in Avila province(14), Castellon (8), Madrid (5) and Toledo (2),

The fourth heatwave of the summer starts on Wednesday with yellow or orange warnings throughout Spain, except for Asturias, the Murcia region and the Balearic Islands.

Maximum temperatures could reach 42C, according to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet).

The expected hike is of major concern in forest fire areas with fears of higher temperatures rekindling the flames.

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