Hundreds evacuated as wildfire grows in southwestern Spain
MADRID – Nearly 800 people have been evacuated from their homes and road traffic has been disrupted as firefighting teams and planes fight a wildfire in southwestern Spain, regional authorities said Thursday.
The blaze in a mountain range of the Malaga province broke out late Wednesday and grew overnight, prompting the first evacuation of some 400 people near the resort town of Estepona.
As the blaze expanded, more housing developments were emptied by authorities on Thursday.
Around 250 firefighters were working to extinguish the fire on the ground, helped by 29 planes and helicopters, authorities said.
José Gracia Urbano, the mayor of Estepona, told reporters that investigators were looking at the fire as possible arson, given that it started in two different places late in the evening as the wind was gusting up.
“It’s very suspicious,” Urbano said, in comments carried by TVE, Spain’s public broadcaster.