Summer temperatures leave a trail of more than 15,000 burned hectares

The higher temperatures of spring, more typical of summer, has already resulted in devastation in various parts of the country, where fires have been ravaging.

In March, a fire started between Teruel and Castellón that destroyed more than 4,700 hectares, April has not improved in terms of active fires. For example, a week ago fires were declared in Asturias and Galicia, in the areas of Robledo, Aballe/Dego, Ribadesella and Tineo, which have destroyed more than 11,000 hectares.

The most recent major fire began this Saturday afternoon between Catalonia and Aragon and some 600 hectares have already burned. However, the Generalitat Fire Department did manage to stabilise that blaze quite quickly.

That fire, as reported by officials in the area, is believed to have started in an electrical transformer in the Mequinenza reservoir (Zaragoza).

Two helicopters from the Generalitat joined the extinction work on Monday since a decrease in the intensity of the wind has been noticed in the area, which on Saturday blew with gusts of more than 70 kilometres per hour, preventing the work of air resources which fuelled the rapid advance of the flames. The firefighting teams “are optimistic” but were concerned about the state of the left flank of the fire, where there are still some tongues of fire that have not yet been able to be surrounded.

The fire has mostly burned farmland and efforts are being made to keep it from leaving that area, thereby compromising the survival of a nearby forest area of ​​about 3,500 hectares. In addition to the firefighters, units of the Forest Action Group (GRAF) are working on the works; of the Active Forestry Prevention Team (EPAF), the Support Operational Group (GROS), and various command and personnel transport teams, since on Sunday morning the 120 firefighters who worked at night were relieved.

Also, in the Catalan region of Segrià, members of the Forest Defense Groups (ADF), the Generalitat’s Rural Agents Corps, Mossos d’Esquadra and the Emergency Medical System (SEM) are actively battling flames there.

The fire has so far burned some 600 hectares, of which 250 are in the Catalan municipalities of La Granja d’Escarp and Seròs and the rest in Aragon, according to Rural Agents. The mayors of La Granja d’Escarp and Mails, Manuel Solè and David Masot, respectively, have said on the TV3 television channel that the fire started in an electrical transformer in Mequinenza and they have called attention saying that, twenty years ago, another large forest fire also caused by the power line affected the area. They have demanded that the administration create more firewalls to prevent large fires and that the electricity companies solve the problem caused by “highly loaded lines and lack of maintenance”., which gives “continuous microcuts” of supply in the area.

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