1,000 forced to flee Spanish national park as fire spreads

A forest fire in southern Spain forced the evacuation of 1,000 people and is threatening a national park famous for its biodiversity, authorities have said.

The fire started overnight and had by morning encroached on the Donana National Park at Moguer in the southern region of Andalusia. Picture: CRISTINA QUICLER/AFP/Getty Images

The flames have advanced eastward and have entered Donana National Park, one of Spain’s most important nature reserves and a Unesco World Heritage site since 1994.

The park, which has more than 50,000 hectares of wetlands and woods, is an important stop for migratory birds from Africa and Europe and is home to a variety of animals, including the highly-endangered Iberian lynx and the Iberian imperial eagle.

“The fire has entered in the limits of the reserve, and that is where we are focusing our efforts,” Jose Gregorio Fiscal Lopez, from the regional Andalusian authority in charge of the environment, said.

Susana Diaz, the regional president of Andalusia, said there was “no risk to the population” after 1,000 people were evacuated from campsites and houses near the town of Moguer, on Spain’s southern coast, where the fire started on Saturday night.

By midday yesterday, at least 750 people were allowed to return.

Diaz said fighting the fire was proving difficult due to the hot, dry weather, with temperatures reaching 39C and shifting winds. More than 150 firefighters and 21 air units were combating the blaze yesterday after televised images showed trees engulfed by flames overnight.

Diaz said that, although it was still “very early”, authorities were “not ruling out the human factor” as a possible cause of the fire.

Diaz also thanked Spain’s King Felipe VI for his phone call of concern about the fire.

The fire comes a week after wildfires killed 64 people in neighbouring Portugal, which like Spain is suffering from lack of rain and high temperatures.

Portugal’s prime minister, António Costa, described the blazes – which injured dozens more people – as “the greatest tragedy we have seen in recent years in terms of forest fires”. Three days of national mourning were declared.