Rain calms forest fires in Spain

Rain calms forest fires in Spain

Near the town of 100,000 El Tarf, “a fire tornado took it all within seconds,” a local journalist said. Most of the deaths are people who were trapped by the flames during their visit to a zoo. According to television reports, Prime Minister Ayman Benabderrahmane visited the disaster area on Thursday.

According to authorities, 39 forest fires broke out in 14 administrative districts in northern Algeria. As of Thursday, some of them had not yet gone extinct and were blown away by strong winds. The fires brought back memories of last summer. At that time, at least 90 people died in the deadliest wildfires in the North African country’s recent history.

Long-awaited rains stabilized the situation in the Spanish holiday region of Valencia on Thursday. The spread of fires could be stopped and in many places the flames have even gone out, the civil defense announced on Twitter. Two large fires in the region of Bejís, in the north, and Vall d’Ebro, in the south of the autonomous community of Valencia, would have destroyed about 21,000 hectares of forest and forest since Saturday. The first of about 2,000 evacuees were able to return home, as reported by the newspaper “La Vanguardia” and the state-run TV station RTVE.

2022 is the most devastating forest fire year for Spain since the European Copernicus Earth observation system began recording in 2000. Hundreds of forest fires have already destroyed an area of ​​more than 2,500 square kilometers. Experts attribute the development to climate change. According to the Spanish Ministry of the Environment, destruction of even larger areas was recorded in 1985 and 1994, although surveys at the time were not based on satellite data and many very small fires were also taken into account.

In Portugal, a forest fire in Caldas da Rainha, about 80 kilometers north of Lisbon, gave the green light. The fire was brought under control, Portuguese state news agency Lusa reported, citing civil defense. About 500 firefighters are still on duty at the scene.