ARCHIVED - Avila wildfire reaches 2,400-year-old archaeological site

120 square kilometres affected but residents of Ávila villages have been allowed to return to their homes

Firefighters in the central Spanish province of Ávila are still struggling to stabilize the blaze which broke out in the countryside near Navalacruz on Saturday, and although meteorological conditions have become more favourable as air temperatures drop after the weekend heatwave it is reported that the amount of forest and farmland affected has risen to at least 12,000 hectares (or 120 square kilometres).

On Monday evening almost 1,000 residents of Navalacruz, Sotalbo, Villaviciosa, Robledillo and Cepeda de la Mora were allowed to return to their homes, having been evacuated over the weekend as the flames advanced, but it is reported that the fire has reached the renowned archaeological site of Castro de Ulaca. This is a monumental complex built between the 4^th and 2^nd centuries BC by the Vettones, the tribe which was dominant in the area at the time, and is sometimes referred to as “the Pompeii of the Vettones”.

Castro de Ulaca occupies an area of some 70 hectares and at the height of its importance contained around 300 homes, with a population of over 1,000. The site was declared an Item of Cultural Interest in 1986.

In terms of the amount of land affected the blaze in Ávila is now the worst forest fire in Spain so far this year, and it is already being forecast that the flora and fauna in the mountains of the Sierra de Gredos will take years to recover.

Image 1: Junta de Castilla y León

Image 2: the sacrificial altar at Castro de Ulaca (WikiCommons, Manuel Parada López de Corselas)