The fire in the Sierra de la Culebra is the most serious in the history of Castilla y León
More than 25,000 hectares of scrub and pine forest have been burned by the fire that has ravaged the Sierra de la Culebra in Zamora since Wednesday. The flames, fueled this Saturday by strong gusts of southerly wind, have forced, have forced, to evict 25 towns for the time being, although in seven of them their neighbors are already back; It has jumped the national highway 631 and has forced to cut the high-speed rail line and suspend the circulation of trains between Madrid and Galicia.
During the morning, the Junta de Castilla y León notified that nearly 20,000 hectares of land had already been burned, a large part belonging to the Sierra de la Culebra reserve, home par excellence of the Iberian wolf in northwestern Spain and one of the natural spaces of greater value in the province of Zamora.
According to the latest data offered by the Board, that figure would have increased in the last hours to 25,000 hectares, surpassing the Navalacruz (Ávila) fire last year and which, until now, was the most virulent in the history of the Community. Thus, the one in the Sierra de la Culebra became the most virulent of the fires experienced in Castilla y León. Such is the virulence of the fire that three of the brigades that work to control it have described it as a “true monster” and regret that it escapes their ability to control it
In the extinction of this fire, air and land resources are working with 29 environmental agents, 18 technicians, 40 pumpers, eight bulldozers, 36 crews, 20 helicopters, two coordination and observation planes and two amphibious planes.
This Saturday, the Military Emergency Unit (UME) increased its troops to 200, 75 vehicles and two helicopters due to the severity of the fire, declared level 2 by the Junta de Castilla y León. The Civil Guard also deployed 120 agents in the area.
The fire also wreaked havoc in Lleida, where it destroyed nearly 2,000 hectares of forest and farmland in the Artesa de Segre region. According to the intervention chief of the Generalitat Fire Department, Miquel López, the fire could burn 20,000 hectares.
The work carried out this Saturday to prevent it from rekindling will be “key” to burning a maximum of 8,000 hectares. In Navarra, some 2,500 people were evicted from the Sendavida park due to a fire in the Bardenas, while firefighters also acted in Olleta, Legarda and Tafalla.
The fire forced the eviction of the urban centers of Obanos, Legarda and Muruzabal. The A-12, the Autovía del Camino, was cut in both directions from kilometer point 9 to 19 and the Puente la Reina pediment was enabled to house the evicted people, assisted by the Regional Police, Civil Guard and Red Cross.
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