Wildfire causes around 1,000 people to be evacuated in east Spain

Around 1,000 people had to spend Sunday night away from their homes after being evacuated because of a wildfire close to the town of Javia in east Spain,local media reported.

The cause of the fire was still unknown, although the president of the deputation of Alicante confirmed that police have opened an investigation and it is suspected that the fire was started intentionally.

This suspicion arose because new focuses of fire sprang up in the area when the authorities believed they had put the initial outbreak under control.

Given the proximity of the flames to various housing estates close to the popular tourist resort of Javia, the authorities made the decision to evacuate residents in those areas.

Meanwhile, emergency services confirmed that the fire had reached the nearby Granadella national park and some houses have been destroyed.

Aircraft and helicopters were used to fight the flames, but they had to retire at the end of daylight on Sunday, leaving emergency services on the ground to establish a perimeter to contain the blaze, in conditions made difficult by exceptionally high temperature combined with gusts of wind of up to 40 km an hour.

About 40 members of Spanish Military Emergency Response Unit have also been called in to help combat the fire. On Monday morning, five helicopters and five aircraft were able to return to action.

The hot weather looks set to continue for the next three or four days, but weather forecasters expect the wind to drop, which will help firefighters in their task. Endit