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Date Published: 16/11/2021
ARCHIVED - Forest fires have devastated Spain throughout the year
The range of forest land burned equals the size of Murcia
The amount of forest land burned in Spain between January 1 and October 31 of this year has amounted to 85,144 hectares, equivalent to more than 100,000 football fields and just slightly less than the size of the municipality of Murcia.
Despite this, the general director of Civil Protection, Leonardo Marcos, revealed on Monday November 15 that this data is actually consistent with the average number of forest fires over the last decade, regardless of the adverse weather conditions which have plagued much of the Mediterranean.
Over the course of the first ten months of this year, the emergency services have had to intervene in a total of 438 forest fires, 93 of which resulted in serious consequences for the local population or their property. As a result, one person lost their life while a further 60 people were injured. Of the reported incidents, 18 large forest fires (those that exceeded 500 hectares) were recorded. To date, there are 424 cases open to judicial proceedings while 216 people have been arrested.
As of October 31, some 46,334 hectares have burned down, while the total number of fires has fallen with respect to previous years.
Almost 70% of the fires have been quickly brought under control thanks to the coordinated attempts of emergency services.
The most serious incident was recorded during the Jubrique fire in Málaga which resulted in the death of one fire-fighter.
So far this year, on 55 occasions it was necessary to evacuate a total of 6,300 people from danger zones as a preventative measure.
In meteorological terms, this summer was "very adverse in most of the Mediterranean countries" due to the heat waves that have favoured the spread of forest fires, 16 of which required Spanish forces to be deployed to Portuguese borders to help tackle the blazes.
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