1400 evacuated as wildfire rages in western Spain

Around 1,400 people had to be evacuated in the early hours of Friday morning as a wildfire raged out of control close to the town of Caceres in the Autonomous Community of Extremadura in western Spain.

The evacuations were from the small towns of Acebo and Perales del Puerto, as well as people staying at two campsites in the area as gusts of wind fanned the flames and also made it hard to predict the spread of the flames, the Extremadura Regional Authority informed.

The evacuees are currently being housed in the towns of Caceres and Moraleja.

Although around 330 people were involved in helping to organize the evacuation and in combatting the fire, the wind and the poor visibility overnight complicated their task and also made it impossible to use helicopters or aircraft overnight.

The aircraft were able to being work on Friday morning when they were joined by around 100 members of Spain's Military Emergency Unit (UME) to combat what is not the only forest fire currently causing problems in Spain.

A further fire close to the town of Lorca in southeast Spain has damaged 135 hectares of land and is being fought by 125 firemen and five helicopters. It is thought this fire was started by a lightning strike.

Finally two further fires are currently active close to the town of Cieza, also in southeast Spain.

These fires have started shortly after it was confirmed by the Spanish Meteorological Agency (AEMET) that July had been the hottest on record with average daily temperatures 2.5 degree Celsius above the monthly average.