MADRID: Spain faces two crucial days to bring raging wildfires under control before weather conditions worsen, authorities said, as Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez called on his citizens to "exercise extreme caution" ahead of a new heatwave. Wildfires that broke out in forests around the Spanish capital at the height of the summer holidays have forced some 60,000 people to flee their homes, often with just minutes' notice, leaving pets and medicine behind.
The fires devoured forests left tinder-dry by successive heatwaves and lack of rain since May. Overnight, lower temperatures, weaker winds and higher air humidity helped make progress against the blazes west of the capital, the Madrid regional government said. The flames have "slowed their advance", it said, while urging residents to remain "extremely cautious". "The situation has improved slightly, but the fire is still active," it said. But with humidity levels set to drop and temperatures soar across Spain, hitting 40°C in the centre and south according to meteorological agency AEMET, firefighters have only a small window of opportunity.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters that Monday and Tuesday "are absolutely decisive days" to control the fires, before temperatures start rising again. "The next two days will not bring the most favourable conditions, nor the ones we would have wanted, but they are two days in which we can take the initiative, make progress, and work towards controlling and containing the blaze." AEMET said that from Tuesday the fire risk would "surge to very high or extreme levels across almost the entire country." "This situation will persist, or may even worsen, in the following days," it added.
Reacting to the forecast, Sanchez said: "I ask for understanding and call on all citizens in all the country to exercise extreme caution and take every possible precaution." "We face difficult hours, complex hours" ahead, he warned.
Meanwhile, firefighters and water-bombing aircraft battled on Monday to contain a wildfire in southwest France before a new spike in temperatures, with slightly less active fire fronts than the previous day. The blaze has since Wednesday last week ravaged 42,000 hectares of pine forest — an area larger than Detroit — in the famous wine-growing region of Bordeaux. It has caused some 220,000 holiday makers and residents to flee at the height of the summer holidays, and destroyed around 240 homes.
In a village west of the city of Bordeaux, drizzle offered a little welcome respite to firefighters on Monday morning. At a school in Saint-Jean d'Illac, dozens of tired firefighters ate breakfast in the canteen. Around 40 fire fighting trucks waited to be deployed in the courtyard, next to tractors pulling water cisterns.
A firefighter said that he had spent the night patrolling around homes to protect them from any incoming fire, but the flames had never arrived. "It really calmed down last night," he said, asking to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak to the press. But "it can start off again at any moment," he added.
Regional firefighting official Wilfried Schneider said there were less active fire fronts on Monday than the previous day with less wind, but it was too early to say the fire had become stable. "We still don't have the fire under control," he added. Closer to the fire, the road was lined with smouldering pine trees and blackened trunks, as firefighting planes flew overhead. — AFP
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
