01:24Spain: Wildfire burns 700 residents out of homes
Spain: Wildfire burns 700 residents out of homes
A forest fire on the Spanish Island of Majorca that has already burned 1,600 acres of land since Friday night is nearing local homes in Es Grau and Ses Tanquetes due to a change in wind direction. The risk from the blaze motivated the emergency services to evacuate 700 people from the nearby homes, Sunday, as a precautionary action towards assessing the fire situation.
The island's fire service said on Saturday that the conflagaration is the worst one that the Balearic Islands have seen in the last 14 years. Due to the gravity of the fire, the Military Emergency Unit (UME) has moved a total of 186 troops to Majorca, and 40 vehicles along with four helicopters from the peninsula to the city of Andratx.
Fortunately, the homes that have had to be evacuated have not yet been affected by fire. Nevertheless, residents are worried. One French resident said: "It has been three days that the fire is ablaze, and it has burned a lot, and it will burn more because tonight there is a lot of wind, and it comes with a lot of force. Over there where the fire is, there is a lot of society. And it has taken a lot of force, a lot."
Another French resident described the evacuation, saying: "Around four thirty, four forty-five, there were sirens and there was the civil guard that came to tell us that we needed to evacuate the house."
01:24Spain: Wildfire burns 700 residents out of homes
A forest fire on the Spanish Island of Majorca that has already burned 1,600 acres of land since Friday night is nearing local homes in Es Grau and Ses Tanquetes due to a change in wind direction. The risk from the blaze motivated the emergency services to evacuate 700 people from the nearby homes, Sunday, as a precautionary action towards assessing the fire situation.
The island's fire service said on Saturday that the conflagaration is the worst one that the Balearic Islands have seen in the last 14 years. Due to the gravity of the fire, the Military Emergency Unit (UME) has moved a total of 186 troops to Majorca, and 40 vehicles along with four helicopters from the peninsula to the city of Andratx.
Fortunately, the homes that have had to be evacuated have not yet been affected by fire. Nevertheless, residents are worried. One French resident said: "It has been three days that the fire is ablaze, and it has burned a lot, and it will burn more because tonight there is a lot of wind, and it comes with a lot of force. Over there where the fire is, there is a lot of society. And it has taken a lot of force, a lot."
Another French resident described the evacuation, saying: "Around four thirty, four forty-five, there were sirens and there was the civil guard that came to tell us that we needed to evacuate the house."