Three villages had to be evacuated due to the blaze, which is the largest to hit the Castilla y León region since 1984. A wildfire continued to burn across the Spanish province of Ávila in the northwestern region of Castilla y León on Wednesday, although it was coming under control. The blaze began on Saturday and was sparked after a car was set alight following an accident on the N-502 highway near the municipality of Navalcruz. It has since become the largest fire to hit Castilla y León since 1984, when the national government devolved powers to the region.

Juan Carlos Suárez-Quiñones, the head of the environment department in Castilla y León, said on Monday that the blaze was fueled by a “perfect storm” of factors: temperatures close to 40ºC during the heatwave in Spain (a record high for the area), less than 30% humidity (it dropped to 4%) and sustained winds of between 40 and 45 kilometers per hour, with gusts of up to 60 kilometers per hour.
According to the Ministry for Ecological Transition, the wildfire has a perimeter of 130 kilometers and has razed more than 20,000 hectares of land. Most of the area affected is made up of scrubland, oak, pasture and some pine. The most dangerous part of the fire is now at its southern front, near the municipalities of Navalacruz, Navaquesera, Villarejo and Navalmoral de la Sierra. READ FURTHER FROM THE SOURCE ABOVE