Wildfire raging in southern Spain forces nearly 800 to flee

September 9, 2021

By Jon Nazca

ESTEPONA, Spain (Reuters) -A wildfire has forced the evacuation of nearly 800 people from around the southern Spanish resort of Estepona, local authorities said on Thursday.

The blaze started on Wednesday around 9:30 p.m. and has since burned through around 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of the densely forested area known as the Sierra Bermeja, according to the emergency services.

A total of 779 people have been evacuated from four communities in Estepona, which is popular with British retirees and holidaymakers, and one in neighbouring Benahavis, authorities said, adding that there were no Britons among the evacuees.

A Reuters witness saw huge clouds of smoke billowing up from the forest and blowing towards the village of Las Abejeras in Estepona, which was evacuated on Wednesday night.

Some residents from the surrounding villages who had already been evacuated rushed back to grab their pets before returning to safety.

About 200 firefighters are operating to extinguish the fire, which has yet to be brought under control, Andalusia’s regional government said in a statement.

“The geography of the area is difficult, with steep slopes, and the strong west wind is making the work harder,” the statement said.

Several roads, including a stretch of the AP-7 highway, which runs alongside the Mediterranean, were closed because of the blaze.

As of late August, wildfires had ravaged 74,260 hectares in Spain, above the average of the last 10 years but still some way off the 190,000 hectares destroyed in 2012, the worst year in the past decade.

Environment Ministry data show seven of the 10 hottest years on record in Spain occurred in the last decade.

Unusually large wildfires have raged in various parts of the world this year, fuelled by extremely hot, dry conditions that experts say are symptomatic of climate change.

(Reporting by Jon Nazca; Additional reporting and writing by Inti Landauro, Emma Pinedo and Nathan Allen; editing by Andrei Khalip and Alistair Bell)

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