Spain is facing three active wildfires and one that has already been extinguished this Friday, on a day marked by heat, wind and a lack of humidity. The most serious is in the Cinco Villas district in the province of Zaragoza, which has become the largest fire of the year in the country after burning 12,000 hectares.
Declared on Wednesday, the fire remains “fairly active” and advanced significantly during Thursday night and the early hours of Friday, according to the authorities. The perimeter has already reached 60 kilometres and has forced the evacuation of six villages: Orés, Asín, Luesia, Malpica de Arba and Uncastillo, in Zaragoza, and Petilla de Aragón, in Navarra. In total, more than 1,100 people have been affected.
The blaze is mainly affecting Cerro de Cinco Villas, an area of pine forest with a relay antenna, close to the housing developments of Los Robles and San Lorenzo. The local council opened the municipal sports centre as a shelter and the Military Emergency Unit (UME) deployed support units. The Civil Guard arrested a man on Thursday on suspicion of having started the fire. Several residents alerted the authorities after seeing a person fleeing the area in circumstances that aroused suspicion.
