The forest fire declared in Villanueva de Viver has advanced faster than feared and, after razing some 4,000 hectares, it has been confined in a ravine and has gained “a lot of force”, so much so that several land vehicles have had to withdraw due to the serious risk that existed. This was announced by the Minister of Justice, Gabriela Bravo, after the last meeting of the day at the Advanced Command Post (PMA) installed in Barracas (Castellón) that this Saturday they will visit, together, the presidents of the Valencian and Aragonese governments, Ximo Puig and Javier Lambánrespectively.
According to Bravo, all the efforts tonight -now without the twenty aerial means, which will rejoin early on Saturday- will focus on creating an anchor point around the highway that goes to the town of Montanejos to, with “technical fire”, try to stop the advance of the flames, which already have a perimeter of about 40 kilometers. If this strategy does not bear fruit during the night “everything will be much more complicated” during the day on Saturday, he has warned.
The minister has not wanted to confirm the news published by some media according to which the Civil Guard is already investigating four municipal brigade members of Villanueva de Viver in case negligence during agricultural work had triggered the fire that already covers several municipalities in the northwestern limit between Castellón and Teruel. “As long as the Civil Guard does not reach a clear conclusion, I cannot anticipate anything“, said Bravo, who thanked “the will and enthusiasm” of all the professionals who are “risking their lives” to try to control this fire, which has caused the preventive eviction, since yesterday, of some 1,500 people.
Efforts are focused on the municipalities of Montán and Montanejos, which are already evicted, to prevent the flames from reaching this area. The populations or population centers evicted, all of them with a low population census, are Fuente la Reina, Los Calpes, Los Cantos, La Monzona, Puebla de Arenoso, Montanejos, Montán and Arañuel. In total, the regional secretary for Security and Emergencies has reported that some 1,800 people have been evacuated, 106 of them relocated to the Segorbe and Onda sports centers and the rest to relatives’ homes or second homes.
The area, with a high risk of depopulation, natural tourism has a great incentive since its mountain routes, its landscapes and, especially, the thermal tourism that goes to Montanejos are a great attraction for visitors. The Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has assured that both he and Puig are following the evolution of the fire “closely” after the worsening weather conditions due to the strong wind in the area. “We are facing the first big fire of this year, unfortunatelyand it is taking place out of season”, he added.
In this sense, he has conveyed his support to the troops working in the area and to the evacuees: “I can only ask that all precautions be taken in the face of this devastating fire.” For her part, the Minister of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Teresa Ribera, has also conveyed that she is following “with concern” the evolution of active fires in the Peninsula, as she has confirmed on her Twitter profile. The minister recalled the presence, since Thursday, of “reinforcement media” displaced to Castellón since yesterday and added: “And we are in March.”
The ‘cocktail’ that has made it explode
In 2022, records were already broken when the Sierra de la Culebra fire devastated thousands of hectares in mid-June. It was unusual for the date. This year all records have been broken, going forward three more months.
The truth is that the spring of 2023 has started with surprising milestones in the field of meteorology that have led to this type of fire occurring. Winter in the interior of Castellón and Teruel has ended up being one of the driest in the last decade and Spring has started with record temperatures.
In addition, Spain has reached another unusual record: this 2023 It has been the year that 30ºC has been reached earlier since there are records, on March 11, when the normal is usually May 24.
Extreme fire risk in the Mediterranean
The veranillo of this beginning of spring brings this Friday a extreme fire risk in large areas of the peninsular Mediterranean area due to unusually high temperatures for this time of year.
The map of Spain regarding the risk of forest fires this Friday indicates that this Friday most of the Valencian Community are at extreme risk (red color), large areas of Albacete, areas of Teruel and the interior of Barcelona, as well as a central area of Asturias. In addition, there is a very high risk of fires in the southern half of Aragon, other places in the southeast of Castilla-La Mancha, large areas of inland Catalonia and eastern Andalusia.
This Friday 31 degrees are expected in Murcia and 30 in Valencia. “In fact, the risk of fires will be very high or extreme in the Mediterranean area, due precisely to these high temperatures and the winds from the west, which arrive overheated and dry in this area, so be very careful,” according to Rubén del Campo, spokesman for Aemet.
This situation will worsen this Sunday, when the risk will be extreme in most of Catalonia and the Valencian Community, in addition to almost the entire southern half of Aragon and areas of Asturias, Murcia and the Andalusian Mediterranean.
Very high risk comprises most of the rest of the eastern third of the peninsula. The thermometers could mark this Sunday 32ºC in Murcia and 30 in Valenciawhich could be the hottest capitals in Spain.