Wildfire in central Spain burns through 500 hectares of forest

A wildfire burning in central Spain has destroyed more than 500 hectares of forest and scrubland, according to officials on Tuesday.

“The situation is not encouraging,” said Ángel Iglesias, technical director of firefighting in the small town of Mombeltrán, about 95 kilometres west of Madrid.

Firefighters have been battling the blaze, which broke out late Monday, with planes and helicopters, while crews on the ground worked to create firebreaks to prevent the flames from spreading further.

However, strong winds continued to fan the flames, some of which were several metres high, Iglesias said, noting that there was a lot of flammable vegetation in the mountainous terrain.

The civil defence service announced on X that a firefighter had died on his way to the scene when his car veered off the road.

The area had only just recovered from a devastating forest fire in 2009.

Experts have been warning that many of Spain’s forests are not being adequately maintained and that excessive rainfall at the beginning of the year has led to a build-up of vegetation, which has dried out in the heat of the last few weeks.

“The forests are a powder keg,” forestry expert Rosendo Castelló told the newspaper La Vanguardia.

Over the last 50 years, the forest area has increased by about 20% because agricultural sites have been abandoned, he said.