Hundreds evacuated as wildfires rage in Spain’s Alicante and Cuenca

July 31, 2024

Wildfires raged overnight on Tuesday in the Spanish provinces of Alicante, in the Valencia region, and Cuenca, in Castilla-La Mancha.

This comes as Spain enters its hottest and driest period of the year, variables which increase the danger of fires starting.

Fires are still active in Benasau (Alicante), which local media reports has eased overnight, and in Valverdejo (Cuenca), an area that experienced a more difficult night due to complicated weather conditions.

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Both wildfires have caused the evacuation of hundreds of people due to the danger of smoke inhalation, as well as forcing major roads to be closed and even affecting the Madrid-Levante high-speed train line in places.

READ ALSO: What to do and what to avoid if you witness a forest fire in Spain

In Cuenca, fire services detected the blaze at around 3.30pm in the municipality of Valverdejo. It was quickly declared a level two fire risk due to the possible impact on non-forest areas, and blew smoke into the city of Cuenca itself. Residents were advised not to leave their homes and to close all windows.

As a precautionary measure, the authorities also ordered confinement measures in the nearby towns of Barchín del Hoyo and Piqueras del Castillo due to smoke risk.

The fire has disrupted services on the Madrid-Levante high-speed train lines, and is estimated to have already destroyed approximately 1,500 hectares of land.

In Alicante at around 3pm a fire was detected in the Benasau area, near the water treatment plant in the hamlet of Ares del Bosque.

Local media reports suggest the blaze started as a smaller vegetation fire but by 4.15pm was reclassified as a full forest fire, as reported by Emergencias 112 on social media.

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Although the fire did stabilise overnight, firefighters fear they may still need to use aerial tools to properly tackle the blaze.

The fire spread quickly due to the dry terrain, vegetation and the changing wind direction, the combination of which made it difficult to tackle. Local authorities have declared a level two incident, and could request help from a military unit.

Smoke is also affecting the municipalities of Penáguilas and Alcolecha and forced the evacuation of around 800 people.

A shelter in nearby Benifallim has been made available to evacuated locals, in addition to the one set up in Cocentaina. Two roads are affected by the fire: CV-781 and CV-785.

There have been less wildfires in Spain so far in 2024. Fires have burned 26,071 hectares of land so far this year, 59 percent less than in the same period last year, when 63,306 hectares were burned.

The damage in 2024 so far due to wildfires is 51 percent less than the average of the last decade, with an average of 53,856 hectares burned between January 1 and July 21, according to data from Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (MITECO) collected by Europa Press.

READ ALSO: ‘Hellish nights’: Spain struggles to sleep amid record high minimum temperatures

The Local Barcelona News

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