Panic in Spain as raging fires leave three dead and 16 injured

Spain is having to call in international reinforcements as the horror of nine consecutive days of fires is revealed in shocking detail. More than 40 fires are still active, four people have died, including a fireman, and thousands of people have been evacuated.

The magnitude of the human disaster is also reflected in the number of injuries. Three of six people hospitalised in Leon and Zamora remain in a critical condition, and the same number are in serious condition, according to the Spanish Regional Government of Castilla y Leon. A 56-year-old woman has burns to 48% of her body, a 36-year-old man with 50% and a 64-year-old man with 35%.

An 80-year-old patient is in stable but serious condition, and a 77-year-old woman is serious but recovering well.

In total, three deaths and 16 injuries have been reported in connection with the firefighting efforts in Castilla y Leon. The latest death, a 57-year-old firefighter from the Infocal operation deployed from Soria, died yesterday in a traffic accident involving a fire engine in Espinoso de Compludo (Leon). Another 30-year-old firefighter was injured in the same incident.

The wave of fire continues relentlessly in the northwest and west of the peninsula, with Ourense, León, Salamanca, and Cáceres in the eye of the hurricane. Due to the advance of the fires, the Picos de Europa is also now in danger. Ten towns near the famous mountains have been evacuated due to the direct threat of the flames.

The number of hectares razed now exceeds 160,000, and threats to the rich natural heritage continue.

In Ourense, wildfires have devastated 58,500 hectares, making it the worst forest disaster in the province so far this summer. Numerous fires remain uncontrolled, including those in Chandrexa de Queixa and Vilariño de Conxo.

In Castilla y León, fires have been reported in Zamora, León, Salamanca and Ávila, with nearly 28 active fires.

In Extremadura, the Jarilla fire (Cáceres) remains out of control and has burned around 11,000 hectares, causing lockdowns and evacuations in the Jerte Valley and other areas. Faced with such a critical situation, the Government of Castilla-La Mancha has declared an episode of "exceptional risk of forest fire" for Monday, August 18 and Tuesday, August 19. Authorisations for the use of agricultural machinery have been suspended in those regions at extreme risk, as a preventative measure to prevent new outbreaks.

Defence Minister Margarita Robles said the UME (Military Emergency Unit), despite being fully deployed, "has not seen anything like it in its 20 years of existence." Meanwhile, regions such as Galicia, Castilla y León, and Extremadura are calling for more air and logistical resources to stop the catastrophe.

The Government has accepted support from Germany, Slovakia and the Netherlands, in addition to the reinforcements sent by France and Italy through the European Civil Protection Mechanism. Germany will send a team of between 50 and 60 forest firefighters with more than 20 vehicles; Slovakia will deploy a BlackHawk helicopter with a capacity of 3,400 litres in Cáceres, and the Netherlands will provide two Chinook helicopters of up to 7,000 litres that will operate from the León Air Base.

Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry is awaiting the arrival of a French team of forest firefighters to reinforce the extinguishing tasks in León and Ourense.

The current number of burned hectares throughout Spain, which already exceeds 160,000, is still provisional and will take days to be known exactly, according to satellite estimates from the Copernicus programme and partial data sent by the autonomous regions.