Wildfires

Wildfires - Catalonia, Spain

The heat wave which is lashing Catalonia this week has forced the Catalan Government to set the alert level for forest fires at its maximum. In particular 30 regions have been warned of high risk of wildfires and 17 municipalities have totally restricted those activities which may increase this risk. The worst episode so far was on Tueday, since 86 wild fires hit different regions of Catalonia simultaneously. However, the most important one occurred this Tuesday in Vallbona de les Monges, a small village 40 kilometres west from the city of Lleida. In less than 5 hours, the fire burned nearly 900 hectares, most of them cereal crops. The firefighters sent 55 land resources and 3 aerial’s, which achieved to stabilise the fire by Wednesday morning. However, they continue to water the perimeter to prevent the fire from reviving.

Wildfires - Russia

A huge wildfire, raging in Russia's far eastern Yakutia region for the past three weeks, has been extinguished, a forest official said on Wednesday.

The wildfire, covering an area of more than 3,000 hectares of woods, was raging in the Lena Pillars Nature Park, a world natural heritage site, since June 28.

Yakutia has so far this year witnessed 109 wildfires, destroying 8,000 hectares of woods.

The area of wildfires in Russia has decreased by seven percent over the weekend, from 15,400 to around 14,400 hectares