At least two thousand evacuated due to forest fires in southern Spain

More than 2000 people were evacuated from homes, campsites and hotels due to the threat from a forest fire in southern Spain, emergency services said on Sunday (June 25). Like much of Spain, the area near Huelva is on high alert for forest fires because of a heat wave. Last week, 64 people died in a forest fire in neighbouring Portugal. The blaze was spotted on Saturday (June 24) night in the Moguer region near Huelva and was being treated as a level 1 - or maximum - threat by emergency services. Jose Fiscal, environment minister for the Andalusia regional government, said on Sunday the fire was likely to have been caused by arson, Spanish newspaper El País reported. Emergency services were working to contain the fire but adverse windy conditions made it difficult to predict when the blaze would be brought completely under control. By 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) on Sunday emergency services had deployed 11 planes, 10 helicopters and dozens of land vehicles against the flames in a joint military-civilian operation.