Forest fires claim the life of a fifth fire fighter in Spain

Forest fires claim the life of a fifth fire fighter in Spain
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By m.p. - Jul 23, 2009 - 4:08 PM
He died fighting a fire in Teruel when the fire truck he was driving crashed into a ravine

One of the fires which hit Teruel on Wednesday - EFE

A fifth fire fighter has now died in the forest fires which have been ravaging Spain this week. The 50 year old married father of two died in Corbalán, Teruel, on Thursday morning, when the fire truck he was driving crashed into a ravine from a forest road.

There were six fires still active in the province on Thursday, with 1,500 people forced from their homes by the flames and 10,000 hectares destroyed. It’s Aragón’s worst year for wildfire since 1994, when 30,000 hectares of land were destroyed in the Maestrazgo area. The largest blaze, advancing on two fronts, was in Aliaga, where an estimated 7,000 hectares had been razed.

In Tarragona, the fire which killed four men and seriously injured another two on Tuesday, has now razed more than a thousand hectares, with high temperatures and strong winds hampering efforts to bring it under control. All of Cataluña was on alert for risk of forest fire on Thursday, as was the Valencia Region, where a number of fires were still burning.

The AVE high speed rail service from Madrid to Barcelona was meanwhile re-established at 11am on Thursday after being cut since Wednesday afternoon because of two fires in separate locations. More than 6,500 passengers were affected by the cut in service, with alternative transport contracted by road and air by Renfe Spanish railways.

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