If the wind threatens to turn south, the lifting of the evacuation order in 13 municipalities gives a first positive signal in the fight against fires in Spain, where Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez claimed to see “the light at the end of the tunnel”.
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“The return of residents to their homes can begin” from 5 p.m. local time, the Interior Ministry told AFP after the publication of the evacuation order for 13 municipalities in the Madrid region and neighboring Castile and Leon affected by the worst fires in the country’s history.
At a police checkpoint approaching the evacuated villages of Chapineria and Navas del Rey, west of Madrid, more than 20 cars were queuing waiting to return there after this announcement, noted an AFP journalist.
AFP
In Pelayos de la Presa, Mayor Antonio Sin explained to AFP the “priorities”: “bringing back those who have left, absent for many days and exhausted”, rehousing those who have lost their homes, rebuilding the village.
“We were at war with fire,” said Mr. Sin, remembering “a terrible fire, extremely brutal, a monster that swept us away.”
But the titanic work of firefighters and soldiers in “very difficult” times is paying off, and the Prime Minister sees “the light at the end of the tunnel”.
The most critical front, north of the artificial San Juan Lake 70 kilometers west of the capital, still worries the authorities.
A new heat wave is arriving in Spain and is expected to last until at least Sunday, according to the National Meteorological Agency (Aemet), which has warned of “extreme” risks of fires.
AFP
“Sleeping kitten”
This fire in the “Western Sierra”, near Madrid, which merges with the gigantic blaze of Ávila in Castile and León, is devastating. “At night it is a sleeping kitten, but during the day it can transform into a fearsome lion,” Fernando Casado, mayor of Robledo de Chavela, told journalists.
This “largest” forest fire in the recent history of Spain, according to the government, has already ravaged a total of around 77,000 hectares, said Mr. Grande-Marlaska, or seven times the area of Paris, and 63,000 people have been evacuated.
AFP
And the wind began to change on Tuesday, a warmer blow coming from the South. As a result, “anything that cannot be contained could well complicate the situation again,” feared the government delegate in the Madrid region, Francisco Martín Aguirre.
On the ground, the trees lining the road between the villages of Aldea del Fresno and Chapinería did not resist the virulence of the flames: the charred trunks and the burnt vegetation, covered in ashes, testified Tuesday morning to the violence of the fire, noted an AFP journalist.
AFP
Some green leaves
Only a few still green leaves escaped the fire in the middle of a once lush, now charred landscape.
In Chapinería, emptied of its inhabitants for several days, the streets were deserted Tuesday morning. The industrial area was hit hard, and a garage was completely burned, the metal door collapsed and the roof was blackened.
But the homes were spared, the flames licked the mesh fences of the houses, where the grass in the gardens remained green.
According to the Minister of the Interior, since the start of the year, fires have already reduced 175,000 hectares to ashes in Spain, a country on the front line of global warming.
In the west of the country, fires near Valencia have left one dead and more than 7,000 hectares have already burned, according to the authorities.
In neighboring Portugal, several fires broke out Monday in the regions of Santarem, Guarda, Braga and Bragança.
In France, where several fires are raging at the same time, the return of heat and the arrival of a drier wind also raise fears of a worsening of the situation. In total, 42,000 hectares have already gone up in smoke in the Bordeaux region.
