In this file photo, a firefighter helicopter drops water to put out a wildfire in Baixa Limia- Serra do Xures Natural Park near the village of Lobeira, Ourense province, northwestern Spain, on August 25, 2022. On March 23, 2023, a forest fire raged in eastern Spain, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate from nearby villages and sending huge plumes of smoke into the air. PHOTO AFP MADRID A forest fire in eastern Spain raged on Thursday, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate from nearby villages and sending huge amounts of smoke into the air.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze near Villanueva de Viver in the region of Valencia just before 1 pm 1200 GMT. Ten aircrafts were fighting to put out the blaze, which had forced the evacuation of villages of three villages. More than 1,000 people were forced to leave their homes, according to Cadena Ser.
Emergency services have set up a refuge for 600 people and a field hospital, according to emergency services.
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Winter 2022 - 23 in the northern hemisphere was the second warmest on record and unusually dry, EU scientists said on March 8. In western and south-eastern Europe, it was drier than average over the winter, while the month of February saw record low soil moisture levels in some areas, the scientists said.
Last year was the worst year on record in Spain for forest fires, with 493 blazes destroying 307,000 hectares of land, according to figures compiled by the European Forest Fire Information System EFFIS.