The hundred arson fires, according to the authorities, which ravaged northern Spain on Friday, were stabilized on Saturday April 1, authorities say.
In the Asturias region, seventy-one fires were still in progress on Saturday noon, compared to more than ninety the day before. But almost all of the fires are “under control and stabilized”, said during a press briefing, Oscar Rodriguez, the head of the emergency services in the region. According to the authorities of this autonomous community located on the northern Atlantic coast of Spain, the firefighters have been helped in recent hours by the improvement in weather conditions, with a less strong wind and the arrival of light rain.
In the neighboring region of Cantabria, where 35 fires were recorded on Friday, “all are extinguished”, with the exception of two forest fires still ongoing but “under control”, the regional government said on Twitter.
Evacuations
The forest fires, which have multiplied simultaneously in recent days, have led to the evacuation of nearly four hundred people and mobilized a large fire brigade. In Asturias, a total of 11,000 hectares have been affected, according to Oscar Rodriguez.
According to the authorities, these fires were deliberately caused. There was “clearly a coordinated action of environmental terrorists”, which could have caused “hundreds of deaths”, denounced Saturday during the press briefing the regional president of Asturias, Adrian Barbon.
In Castellon, in the Valencia region, another giant forest fire has mobilized firefighters in recent days, before being stabilized on Friday. According to the regional government, nearly 4,700 hectares have been burned.
In Spain, facing a long drought after three years of below-average rainfall, authorities believe that the fire season, previously limited to summer, now runs from spring to autumn, a consequence of climate change .
In 2022, a black year for forest fires in Europe, Spain was the most affected European country, with nearly five hundred fires that ravaged more than 300,000 hectares, according to the European information system on the forest fires (Effis).