Wildfires in France, Spain begin to ease as fresh heat wave looms
France's Gironde fire remains stabilized while wildfire in Madrid saw no flare-ups overnight
The wildfires that have been ravaging France and Spain for days by burning thousands of hectares and forcing evacuations began to ease on Wednesday, while a fresh heat wave looms over the region.
In the southwestern French department of Gironde, the prefecture announced that the wildfire remained stabilized in the morning although several flare-ups occurred and were brought under control overnight, according to broadcaster BFMTV.
The prefecture noted that the night was calm while over 2,000 firefighters remain mobilized to secure the still-active fire perimeter and extinguish the remaining hotspots.
It said that 126 firefighters have been injured since the start of the fire in Gironde.
Meanwhile, a fire in the southeastern Var department was contained Tuesday after burning nearly 4,800 hectares (11,861 acres).
In the southwestern Landes department, up to 350 firefighters remain deployed although the fire was contained Monday after 3,600 hectares (8,896 acres).
Gironde and Var are among the 65 departments that were placed under orange alerts due to high risk of forest fires for Wednesday.
National weather service Meteo-France also issued orange alerts across 16 departments as a new heat wave is expected.
In Spain, the forest fire in the Sierra Oeste region of Madrid remained stable overnight without any flare-ups, according to daily El Pais.
Firefighting efforts still continue to control the active fires in the Madrid region, Avila, Toledo, Castellon and Almeria as Spain is also bracing for another heat wave.
Residents of 15 municipalities in Madrid and Avila returned home late Tuesday, while 9,000 residents in Castellon and 6,000 residents from 11 municipalities in Toledo were also allowed to return.
The Vall d'Uixo wildfire in Castellon, which has been burning since Saturday, has scorched 10,000 hectares (24,711 acres), forced the evacuation of 10,000 people, and remains out of control.
Although the number was reduced with the progress in the fires, a total of 30 roads still remain closed across Avila, Castellon, Madrid, Toledo and Leon.
