Spain wildfires burn more than 15,000 hectares
Madrid
Forest blazes in Spain have ravaged more than 15,000 hectares this week as the country chokes in a record heatwave at the start of its wildfire season, officials said today.
At least 10 major blazes have broken out around the country as temperatures reached record levels for July in at least four places.
In the southern city of Granada temperatures topped 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, a level never before reached there in July.
In Zaragoza in the northeast, the state weather agency Aemet recorded a high of 44.5 degrees Celsius that day.
Temperatures in many cities topped 40 degrees on Thursday and at least four major wildfires were raging at 1500 GMT, with two of them threatening the Cazorla nature park in Andalucia.
South of the park in Quesada, flames were threatening 1,800 hectares of land, emergency services there said. Another fire was blazing north of the park.
Near Granada, 600 people were temporarily evacuated due to another blaze, officials said.
A fourth fire broke out in Zufre in western Andalucia but was reported to be evolving more favourably.
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