Huge fire in tire "graveyard" visible in Madrid, causing alert

Smoke from a fire at a used tire depository on Friday was visible from the Spanish capital of Madrid 40 km away and caused a level one alert to be raised in the Autonomous Community of Castilla-La Mancha.

The fire began at around 1 a.m. in the tire dump close to the town of Sesena, south of the Spanish capital, provoking a huge cloud of smoke that could be seen from vantage points in Madrid.

The tire "cemetery", called by the Spanish media the "biggest used tire depository in Europe", is estimated to contain up to 100,000 tons of tires and covers an area which extends over 100 hectares.

Authorities believe the fire was started deliberately given that it has been raining heavily in central Spain for several days and the rain had only stopped falling around 90 minutes before the fire was first reported in a corner of the dump.

Fire-fighting units from both Castilla-La Mancha and the Community of Madrid are working to extinguish the flames and are looking to establish a fire-break between areas of the dump to stop the flames spreading.

There are no reported casualties, but the local mayor has advised residents of nearby neighborhoods to stay inside because of the smoke, while drivers on the nearby R4 motorway have been advised to keep their windows up.

There is a slight risk that the wind could carry the smoke into the flight path of planes coming into land at Madrid's Adolfo Suarez-Barajas airport, but so far airport authorities report no flights have been affected. Endit