A wildfire sweeping across southern Spain forced authorities to evacuate around 500 people overnight in the country's first big blaze of the year, firefighters and local officials said Wednesday.
Dozens of firefighters backed by 12 water-dropping planes and 13 helicopters were battling the blaze in the Sierra Cabrera between Turre and Mojacar in the province of Almeria which broke out on Tuesday.
Officials evacuated local residents and holiday makers from Turre and Mojacar overnight because of the risk that the fast-moving flames could reach built-up areas but they were allowed to return on Wednesday morning.
The fire, which is being fueled by winds of 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) per hour and temperatures of nearly 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), has so far destroyed over 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of forest and bush.
"We are fighting against a fire which we hope to have under control in the coming hours," the environment delegate for the regional government of Andalusia, Cinta Castillo, told a news conference.
A study released Tuesday by environmental group World Wildlife Fund said four Spanish regions were especially vulnerable to wildfires: Castile-La Mancha and Castile and Leon in the center; Galicia in the northwest and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic.
These regions together account for 40 percent of the forest that burns each year in the country.
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