The president of the Junta de Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández Vara, highlighted this Saturday that the decrease in wind speed, which “has dropped significantly, with averages of 15 kilometers per hour”, is allowing the fire to be controlled in Las Hurdes and Sierra de Gata, which has already burned more than 8,500 hectares.
Fernández Vara, after meeting with the steering committee of the Infocaex plan, has highlighted that the weather conditions of the last few hours are much better, because, in addition to the decrease in wind, “the humidity is rising and the temperature is dropping”, for what “the scenario is much better than yesterday and the day before yesterday”.
Despite everything, Fernández Vara has indicated that for the moment “the evacuation” of the populations of Robledillo de Gata, DescargamarÃa, Cadalso and Ovejuela is maintained, although, based on the recommendations of the technicians and the improvement of the situation, this could change.
He also specified that at this time there is “a hot spot in the fire, which worries everyone a lot and it is Ovejuela”, where the fire “has jumped the perimeter”, so “we are waiting to be able to fight it before reaching a firewall that exists and where we hope it can be retained”, he added.
The area affected by the fire is “a very canyoned and embedded area, where work is very difficult due to the fuel that is there.”
In the operations that are carried out, a device will be deployed to feed the animals, through convoys escorted by the security forces.
Aerial and ground means of the forest fire extinguishing operation of the Junta de Castilla y León continue collaborating in the tasks of extinction of the fire that originated on May 17, at night, in Mesegal, municipality of Pinofranqueado, in the province from Cáceres, near the province of Salamanca.
The general director of Emergencies, Civil Protection and Interior of the Junta de Extremadura, Nieves Villar, was “optimistic” on Friday afternoon with the global situation of the fire, but pointed out that the evicted would spend the night outside their homes.
The residents evicted by the fire spent their second night away from their homes and despite the “rage” and “helplessness” they feel, they are “hopeful” to be able to return to their towns this Saturday.
The Adolfo Suárez de Moraleja pavilion (Cáceres) has become the main reception point for the evacuees, in total, more than 700 people who were thrown from their homes and their towns in the middle of the night by the proximity of the flames.
About a hundred people slept in these facilities last night, because a large part of the 231 evacuees who arrived on the first day “have decided to move to the house of relatives or friends”, as explained by the mayor of Moraleja, Julio César Herrero.
“Above all, they ask us if we know what is going to happen today and if they will be able to return to their homes, and it is that the fatigue among the evacuees is beginning to be noticed,” he pointed out.
Emi MartÃn is a neighbor of DescargamarÃa and has related that Thursday night was “terrible, because when we went to bed we could see the fire all over the mountain and we went to sleep with terrible fear.”
The evacuation was also a moment of nerves since, he pointed out, “we did not know what to take or where to throw it, but well then they have treated us very well here and, furthermore, we hope that the fire is under control and let’s see if it is possible that they send us to sleep today and be able to see what we find there”.
At this time, the CC-114 highways, from Cadalso to Robledillo de Gata, and the CC-120, in the municipality of Ovejuela, remain closed to traffic. Regarding the EX-204, from Torrecilla to Pinofranqueado, it has advanced that “it hopes it can be opened in the next few hours” to traffic, although vigilance will continue.
The president of Extremadura has called for “prudence” in the face of a fire that is still active, so “there is no room for complacency”, while he has valued “the magnificent professionals that we have in charge of this fire, who have all our trust and gratitude”, he reiterated.
Most of the extinction operation is focused on the reproduction that jumped early in the morning in Ovejuela, whose evolution is not favorable, since it is a very complicated area due to the robust orography.
The rest of the perimeter of the fire evolves favorably, although at the expense of logical reproductions, insists the Junta de Extremadura.
The complete extinction operation is made up of 24 ground units, ten heavy machinery and 19 aerial means. All of them under the coordination of Infoex technicians who have the support of the Government Brif, the Military Emergency Unit, Castilla y León, Castilla-La Mancha, the provincial councils, Madrid, the Infoca of Andalusia and a hundred firefighters. From Portugal.
