Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: CEN
Video Credit: CEN/@agentsruralscat
This footage shows a huge fire that is burning thousands of acres of forest in Spain and sending residents fleeing as a record-breaking heatwave takes hold.
Firefighters are working to try and extinguish the huge blaze which started in the Torres de l’Espanyol are of the eastern Spanish province of Tarragona in the Catalonia region and has destroyed between 4,000 and 5,000 hectares of forest.
The blaze has made its way through the municipalities of Torre de l’Espanyol, Vinebre, Palma d’Ebre, Flix and Maials and local firefighters said in a statement they expect to blaze to have burnt around 20,000 hectares by the time it is brought under control.
Pictures Credit: CEN/@agentsruralscat & CEN/@bomberscat
In the video taken from the air, the huge fire can be seen burning through a hillside sending a vast plume of smoke into the sky.
Manel Pardo, the General Director of Fire Extinguishing, said that the fire had burnt through the night and they had not managed to control it by the morning as they had hoped.
Quim Torra, the President of the Catalonia region, went tot he area and met with the team in charge of controlling the blaze.
Firefighters worked through the morning with around 80 land teams and three helicopters are expected to join the effort through the day along with three planes.
The Emergency Unit of the Army arrived in the early hours to help with the effort, offering 120 people and nine vehicles.
Local media report around 30 people have been evacuated from their homes and one resident told reporters he had lost all his cattle to the blaze.
Firefighters worked on the left side of the fire in the early morning to try and stop it at the C-12 road before moving to the right side.
The increase in temperatures through the day will increase the risk of the fire spreading, with wind and heat being the main causes of the fire having spread so quickly already.
Five roads have been closed and the effort to control the fire is ongoing.
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