More than 130 people evacuated from Spain-France border as wildfires spread

More than 130 people have been evacuated after a wildfire at Portbou, Spain’s Mediterranean coast near the French border continued to spread, on Saturday (August 5), said a report by AFP citing firefighters. This comes after the locals were evacuated overnight from several villages as a precaution after the fire spread to the south of Portbou.

About the situation in Portbou

As of Saturday, the blaze ravaged some 435 hectares of land in the area with an estimated 2,500 hectares under threat, reported AFP, while firefighters from Spain’s northeastern region of Catalonia teamed up with their French colleagues to bring the wildfire under control.

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The spread of the wildfire was attributed to strong winds which also prevented water-bombing planes from taking off to help with firefighting operations in the tricky hilly terrain.

Senior firefighter Santi Lleonart said in a Catalan government statement on Friday that the blaze was difficult to extinguish due to the mountainous terrain of the region.

However, the Catalan fire service, as per AFP said that they expect the airborne operations to resume on Saturday afternoon. Portbou, near the France-Spanish border, is also home to a major railway station used by both countries’ networks.

Meanwhile, Catalan civil protection officials reported that as many as 4,000 people were without electricity. They have also suspended rail traffic between the Spanish towns of Portbou and Figueres, which is some 30 kilometres south.

The main road into Portbou and to the French border was also closed. According to AFP, some 80 Catalan firefighting units were deployed in the region to fight the wildfire while a dozen fire engines were sent from the French side of the border.

The Catalan regional government website, on Saturday, said that the blaze “remains active” and their priority was to prevent it from reaching the nearby tourist resort of Llanca to the south.

Evacuations and investigation

The Catalan fire service also said that they evacuated around 135 local people as a precautionary measure while hundreds of others were stuck in their houses or campsites overnight. Notably, Portbou welcomes thousands of tourists around this time of the year.

The Catalan forest rangers took to X, formerly known as Twitter and said that they had also launched an investigation into the cause of the fire.

According to the data from the European Forest Fire Information System, Spain is experiencing a less destructive summer of wildfires than in 2022, when more than 300,000 hectares were devastated.

(With inputs from agencies)


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