Spain declares national emergency over wildfires near Madrid and in Avila
More than 10,000 people were evacuated as the Interior Ministry took charge of firefighting and sought European Union air support.
- Spain declared a national emergency due to multiple wildfires near Madrid and Ávila, resulting in the evacuation of over 10,000 people as firefighters worked to control the fires.
- The Interior Ministry cited simultaneous wildfires, worsening weather, and the complexity of coordinating resources as reasons for the emergency declaration, the first of its kind for wildfires in Spain.
- Wildfires in Spain and southern Europe have intensified due to climate change, with extreme heat, drought, and flammable vegetation contributing to the severity of the fires.
- France and Italy also faced severe wildfires; France requested EU civil protection assistance, while Italy deployed nearly 6,000 emergency responders to battle fires in Sicily and other regions.
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367 Articles
Spain fights to 'save lives' as wildfire evacuees shelter in Madrid
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Saturday firefighters were working to "save lives" in the blazes raging west of Madrid, as authorities said a separate fire in the east killed one person.
The impressive images, taken from the cabin of a fire truck, show firefighters crossing a fire front in the Community of Madrid. Between smoke and flames enveloping the street, one of them says: "If we stop we are in trouble." Spain declared the state of national emergency for the vast fires that are hitting the regions of Madrid and Ávila, with thousands of people evacuated and tens of thousands of hectares already smoked.
The Ministry of the Interior declared during the night of Thursday to Friday the emergency of national interest in the Community of Madrid and in the province of Ávila (Castilla and León) due to the evolution of the forest fires in both regions. Previously, the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, had requested “the declaration of the operational situation 3 of national interest for the gravity and simultaneity” of the fires. According to Interi…
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