WATCH: Wildfire tears through El Valle regional park
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The Murcia forest fire has been stabilised after burning up four hectares of land
The hot sultry weather that has dominated much of August has placed Spain on high alert for wildfires and on Tuesday August 29 the devastation reached the Region of Murcia when a blaze took hold at the foot of the El Valle and Carrascoy regional park just before midnight.
According to emergency services, the wildfire started in the vicinity of what is known as Senda de los Veteranos, a popular forest track that connects the recreational area of El Valle Perdido with the peak of El Relojero, at an altitude of more than 600 metres. The trail is popular with hikers, hundreds of whom travel along this path every weekend on their way to the upper part of the regional park.
Firefighters sprang into action to tackle the blaze that had forked in two different directions and by 8am, the fire had been stabilised after tearing through three or four hectares of protected land.
"It is not extinguished, but it is evolving within the control lines established according to the forecasts and extinction work leading to its control," a spokesperson from 112 reported early this morning.
It’s not yet known how the fire started but it sparked in an area planted thickly with Aleppo pine and other species of shrub that generally tend to be very dry at this time of year given the widespread lack of rain since the spring.
The epicentre of the fire was close to the El Valle youth hostel and the La Balsa restaurant, in the La Alberca district, where access to the mountain was thankfully well paved, allowing firefighters a clear path to tackle the flames.
La rápida intervención de los efectivos del #PlanInfomur en el #IFVallePerdido, desplegándose en las zonas dónde el fuego se expandía con más velocidad, ha conseguido una mayor eficacia en la extinción.
Eight forestry brigades (three rapid intervention), firefighters from the Murcia Region Fire Fighting and Rescue Consortium, a special intervention brigade (Brimur), environmental agents, local and national police, as well volunteers from Civil Protection all worked together to douse the flames before more damage could be done.
According to the State Meteorological Agency (Aemet), the weather outlook for Tuesday is more favourable since temperatures have dropped throughout the Region and the gusts have also slackened. Nevertheless, the level of risk of forest fire in the Vega Alta, Ricote and Murcia for this Tuesday is moderate. On the west coast the risk is extreme, in the Altiplano, Cuenca de Mula, Guadalentín and Litoral, the risk is very high and it remains high in the northwest.
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