Disasters & Accidents

Active wildfires in eastern Spain scorch 26,000 ha of land

Brussels, Aug 18 (EFE).- Two active wildfires in Spain have scorched a combined area of over 26,000 hectares, the European Union’s Copernicus satellite observation program reported Thursday.

The European Forest Fire Information System, which tracks fires from space by estimating burned areas of land, said a fire in Vall D’Ebo and another in Bejís, both in Spain’s eastern Valencia region, had scorched 13,116 and 13,451 hectares of land respectively as of Wednesday.

“Two disastrous wildfires are burning in the east of Spain,” a statement on the official Twitter page of the Copernicus program said.

The European Commission on Thursday said it had mobilized 29 planes, eight helicopters, 369 fire fighters and 105 vehicles via its Civil Protection program to tackle blazes in countries across the EU in the last two months.

So far this year, 700,000 of land has been burned by wildfires in the bloc, the EU commissioner for crisis management, Janez Lenarcic, said.

Spain’s wildfire season has been buffeted by heat waves and drought conditions this summer.EFE

asa/jt/mp

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