The emergency teams evacuated some 700 inhabitants of towns in Extremadura during the early hours of yesterday because of a voracious arson that began in the municipality of Pinofranqueado and that until yesterday afternoon had already devastated 8,500 hectares in the Las Hurdes and the Sierra de Gata, near the border with Portugal. The strong winds made it difficult to control the flames in an area that is densely wooded by pine trees.
The inhabitants of four towns –Cadalso, Descargamaría, Robledillo de Gata and Ovejuela– were evacuated between early morning and Wednesday morning. Some 300 firefighters and 120 soldiers from the military emergency unit (UME) worked in the fire fighting device.
Last night, eleven units of the Extremadura Forest Fire Extinguishing Plan (Infoex), ten bulldozers, five technicians and six agents of the natural environment will work to extinguish this fire. The works are focused this Saturday in the northeast area of Ovejuela, which continues at level 2 of danger.
Aerial means are incorporated into the affected areas with the first rays of light. In addition, 17 land units, 6 agents of the natural environment and 5 technicians work in the place, as reported this Saturday by the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development, Population and Territory of the Junta de Extremadura.
During the night and early morning, eleven units of the Extremadura Forest Fire Extinguishing Plan (Infoex), ten bulldozers, five technicians and six agents of the natural environment have worked to extinguish this fire.
The extinction operation is focused this Saturday in the northeast area of Ovejuela, as reported by the Executive of Extremadura. 17 land units of the Infoex Plan, 6 agents of the natural environment and 5 technicians are already working in the area, while air resources will gradually be incorporated.
In addition, it has the support of the Government Brif, the Military Emergency Unit, the two Castillas, the provincial councils, Madrid, the Infoca of Andalusia and a hundred firefighters from Portugal.
The fire has already devastated more than 8,500 hectares, according to the first estimate of the Extremadura Forest Fire Fighting Plan. This is an approximate figure, since within the perimeter there are numerous islands of vegetation that have not burned.
In addition, these effects have the support of soldiers from the Military Emergency Unit (UME) and resources from the Ministry for Ecological Transition, councils of Cáceres and Badajoz, Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Castilla y León, Madrid and Portugal, as well as the Civil Guard and the Red Cross, according to the Junta de Extremadura.
The president of the Junta de Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, expressed the difficulty of controlling the fire with winds of 60 kilometers per hour: "The pines are gasoline drums and the pineapples are flamethrowers." “Whoever did it – he added – knew what he was doing, how to do it and when to do it” by choosing “a time when the night was starting”, which made it difficult to respond “promptly”.
Asked if it was a sixth generation fire – very voracious, which releases a large amount of energy and a continuous air circulation that makes it very difficult to extinguish – Fernández Vara pointed out that “in one of the parts there has been something of that" and added that people "very experienced" in forest fires had told him that they had "seen things that they had not seen in their lives."
The Junta de Extremadura reported that the burned hectares are an approximate figure, since within the perimeter there are "numerous islands of vegetation that have not burned." The extinction operation met on Friday and maintained the classification of active fire, with level 2 of danger, although the prospects for evolution were not "as bad as in the last 24 hours."
Andalusia sent 120 firefighters and two planes, and the Community of Madrid sent a bomber helicopter. Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León already sent troops at the first moment.
During this Friday, the troops have continued to fight against the fire. Of course, this afternoon, the general director of Emergencies, Civil Protection and Interior of the Junta de Extremadura, Nieves Villar, indicated that the extinction operation is "optimistic" with the global situation of the fire, but has pointed out that the evicted will pass away from home tonight. The general director of Emergencies also insisted that the fire has been "provoked".
In the area near the place where the fire broke out, a Hispasat pilot project for satellite-monitored reforestation is being developed. Although there was no early detection of the flames in this case, the company yesterday made data on the evolution of the incident available to the authorities.
