MADRID: Spain on Wednesday authorised residents to return home to all 12 towns evacuated due to a wildfire in the province of Avila, west of Madrid, the interior ministry said. "The end of the evacuation is ended, with immediate effect, for all the localities that were in that situation in the province of Avila," the ministry said in a statement, listing 12 municipalities.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Wednesday that efforts to extinguish a major wildfire near Madrid were progressing "favourably" and the coming hours would be "decisive". "Today I believe we are closer to that final objective" of "defeating the fire", Sanchez told reporters in televised comments at a command centre in the town of Navalcarnero near the fire zone. "Things are progressing favourably, with the greatest of caution," he added. "I believe the next 12 hours will be very important — they will be decisive for consolidating the work that has been done" by firefighters.
Emergency services have been working since last Thursday to put out the blaze in the Madrid region, and another in the nearby province of Avila which officials said is the worst in Spain's recent history.
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